Longitudinal research with newlyweds shows that 67% have a drop in marital satisfaction in the first three years of their baby’s life. Hostility between the partners increases, and the baby’s emotional, cognitive, and neurological development are all adversely affected. The Bringing Baby Home program, which will be described, is effective in preventing both these negative changes and post-partum depression.
EP09 Dialogue 15 – Healthy Marriage – John Gottman, PhD, Julie Gottman, PhD and Salvador Minuchin, MD
Educational Objective: Given a topic, to describe the differing approaches to psychotherapy, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
EP09 Topical Panel 06 – Couples Therapy – John Gottman, Julie Gottman, Harville Hendrix, and Michele Weiner-Davis
Educational Objective: To compare and contrast clinical and philosophical perspectives of experts.
A systemic research-based approach to assessing and treating distressed couples will be presented. Multi-method assessments using questionnaires, interviews, observations, and physiological measurement will be reviewed. Key interventions based on the Gottman Sound Relationship House Theory will be described, and video segments of in-office therapy sessions will be shown to demonstrate them.
This workshop describes a 22-session couples’ group intervention and curriculum for lower and middle-class couples. Each session begins with a talk-show video showing discussions with couples in poverty on curriculum topics, e.g.’ healing from infidelity, avoiding and healing from domestic violence, etc. The video is followed by group discussion, a brief teaching,and an exercise that focuses on learning new skills. Throughout most of the curriculum,, physiological soothing is taught through biofeedback. Details of the curriculum and video samples will be shown.