EP21 Topical Panel 06 - Couples Therapy - Ellyn Bader; Harville Hendrix; Helen LaKelly Hunt

The underlying principles of couples therapy differ from individual therapy for both assessment and treatment. The panelist will discuss and contrast their models.

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss fundamentals and approaches to effective couples therapy
2. Identify three characteristics of an effective consultation session with a couple

Outline:

Panelist Introduction

• Panel discussion featuring couples therapy experts: Dr. Ellen Bader, Harville Hendrix, and Helen LaKelly Hunt.

• Ellen Bader: Co-founder of the Couples Institute; developer of the developmental model.

• Harville Hendrix & Helen LaKelly Hunt: Creators of Imago Relationship Therapy; founders of Imago International Training Institute.

Couples & Individual Therapy Collaboration (Ellen Bader)

• Emphasizes strong collaboration between couples and individual therapists.

• Highlights importance of therapists meeting partners to fully understand relationship dynamics.

• Discusses risks of individual therapy inadvertently destabilizing healthy relationships.

Challenges & Successful Collaboration

• Shares examples of effective therapist collaborations, especially with complex infidelity cases.

• Warns against therapists diagnosing or negatively influencing a partner they haven’t met.

• Encourages alignment and compatibility between therapeutic approaches.

Imago Relationship Therapy (Hendrix & Hunt)

• Based on creating safe, structured communication between partners.

• Focuses on empathy, affirmation, mirroring, and accuracy checking to improve dialogue.

• Uses humor, playfulness, and structured dialogue to help couples reduce defensiveness.

Influence of Bob & Mary Goulding

• Gouldings inspired the panelists' emphasis on structured, intrapsychic, experiential therapy.

• Highlighted importance of sentence stems, supportive environments, and managing conflicts constructively.

Group Therapy & Intensive Workshops

• Hendrix notes benefits of group therapy for mutual healing among couples.

• Bader discusses increasing popularity and effectiveness of intensive couples therapy and weekend workshops.

• Experiential work and humor are valuable in therapeutic groups.

Confidentiality & Managing Secrets

• Bader emphasizes clear discussions about confidentiality policies with couples.

• Hendrix and Hunt choose to work exclusively with couples to maintain transparency.

• Importance of converting frustrations into clear, constructive requests emphasized.

Cultural Sensitivity & Communication

• Panelists acknowledge challenges in addressing cultural and religious communication differences.

• Imago dialogue noted for being effective cross-culturally by fostering equity and positive engagement.

• Therapists encouraged to understand and respect each partner’s background and desires.

Final Thoughts

• Collaboration, humor, cultural sensitivity, and clarity in confidentiality are essential.

• Therapists advised against diagnosing unseen partners or making assumptions.

• Session concludes emphasizing open-mindedness, structured communication, and empathetic collaboration in therapy.