Introduction - Who Will Use This Manual?

Brief Couples Therapy: Group and Individual Couple Treatment for Addiction and Related Mental Health Concerns

In the Introduction:

• Who Will Use This Manual?
• Who Is BCT For?
• Why Is There a Need for Brief Couples Treatment?
• Development of the Manual
• The Integrative Model
• Brief Couples Therapy (BCT)
• Tips on Implementing the Program
• How to Use the Manual

This manual was developed primarily as a tool for therapists and counsellors working in substance use settings who would like to augment their practice by seeing couples. Clinicians intending to use this program should be familiar with solution-focused therapy, as well as couple and family therapy. Familiarity with cognitive behavioural interventions and communication theory would also be helpful.

The manual will also be useful for the practitioner who is seeing couples, and who would like to be able to offer a focused, specific program for clients presenting with substance use issues. In this situation, familiarity with cognitive behavioural therapy, relapse prevention and motivational interviewing for substance use is recommended.

Concurrent Disorders Settings

Because the Brief Couples Therapy (BCT) protocol was developed and is used within a concurrent setting, we regard it as one aspect of a comprehensive approach to treatment for substance use and mental health disorders. As such, BCT focuses on substance use issues to a greater extent than on mental health issues. However, whether or not clients present themselves as suffering from concurrent disorders, therapists and counsellors will undoubtedly find themselves dealing with couples who have had to cope with depression, mania, anxiety and other mental health issues. Thus, therapists should be aware of the prevalence of concurrent disorders as described in this manual in the section “Why is there a need for Brief Multiple Couple Treatment?” In particular, therapists should be cognizant of the likelihood that clients may engage in their substance use or increase it when they are dealing with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and personality disorders; and on the other side of the coin, therapists ought to be aware of the possibility of the occurrence of symptoms of anxiety, depression and psychotic episodes that are tied to problem substance use.

Theoretical and Philosophical Perspectives

It is hoped that this manual will be a useful tool for clinicians who may adhere to a variety of different philosophical and theoretical perspectives on human nature and change processes. Because the underlying conceptual model is based on an integration of theoretical principles, we believe that the techniques we are presenting are adaptable to different schools of thought. In this vein, we hope that whatever your philosophy of human nature or your theoretical perspective regarding the processes involved in counselling and therapy, you will find this a useful tool for practice. We presume that, where deemed necessary, therapists will modify the wording of checklists and exercises to suit their particular clientele, practices and philosophies.

Brief Couples Therapy

Acknowledgments

Introduction

• Assessment Session
• Session 1: Introduction
• Session 2: Genogram/Family Tree
• Session 3: Miracle Question
• Session 4: Goal Setting
• Session 5: Communication
• Session 6: Trust/Intimacy
• Session 7: Relapse Prevention
• Session 8: Conclusion

References

Appendix A: The Background of the Integrative Model

• Print Bookmark