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Article

Applying Redecision Therapy to Couples Work

Pages 69-76
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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Traditionally, redecision therapy identifies early life decisions that influence life script and facilitates new decisions on a cognitive and emotional level that free clients from the constraints of old decisions. In this article, the authors describe how they apply this approach to couples therapy to create new choices for relationships. As couples develop beyond the initial blissful stage of a relationship, a frequent obstacle to personal growth or effective differentiation is a decision by one partner in response to a painful disillusionment with the other. The pain that results from the disillusionment often results in partners making self-protective decisions that affect future interactions, behavior patterns, and their emotional connection. Redecision work in the presence of both partners helps the couple to make new decisions about how to be with each other.

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Author information

Peter Pearson

Ellyn Bader, Ph.D., and Peter Pearson, Ph.D., are cofounders and directors of The Couples Institute. They are creators of the developmental model of couples therapy and authors of In Quest of the Mythical Mate: A Developmental Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment in Couples Therapy, now in its 15th printing. They have been active in the ITAA for many years. Ellyn is a past president, served on the ITAA Board of Trustees, and chaired the training standards committee. Peter served on the ITAA Board of Trustees and edited The Script. Ellyn is now involved in an Internet training program especially designed for international therapists that includes instruction on redecision therapy and other methods for effective couples therapy. Ellyn and Peter can be reached at or 445 Burgess Dr. #150, Menlo Park, CA 94025, U.S.A.; Websites: www.CouplesInstituteTraining. com or www.couplesinstitute.com.
 

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