PCSP is a peer reviewed, open-access journal and database. It provides innovative, quantitative and qualitative knowledge about psychotherapy process and outcome. PCSP is published by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists.
January, 2024 -- see our newest case, "The Commitment of a Lifetime": The Role of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy in Strengthening Attachment Bonds and Improving Relationship Health in Later-Life Couples—The Teletherapy Case of "Alice" and "Steve."
Click on the upper left button for the “Newest Case" or the button labeled "Current."
Click on "CE Exams On Case Studies" below for an Exam on the current issue's case study and on past issues' case studies.
The Case Studies
January 23, 2024 -- FROM THE EDITOR
ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF OUR 67th ISSUE (Vol. 20, Module 1)
"The Commitment of a Lifetime": The Role of Emotionally Focused Couple
Therapy in Strengthening Attachment Bonds and Improving Relationship Health in Later-Life Couples --The Teletherapy Case of "Alice" and "Steve"
*** Drew Mendelson, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ
Commentaries
*** Karen Skean and Elisabeth Brown, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ
*** Shalonda Kelly, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ
EDITOR'S NOTE
A healthy marriage is a crucial protective factor for adapting to the challenges of late life. Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) for couples is an attachment-based model of psychotherapy that emphasizes here-and-now processing of emotion in a safe holding environment; enhanced understanding of the patterned interactions between self and other; and a non-pathologizing, growth-oriented approach toward couples’ difficulties.
This case study examines the benefits of EFCT for addressing issues specific to late life, including existential concerns such as aging, illness, and mortality; caregiving burdens and stress; cumulative relational trauma over the lifespan; and forgiveness and healing from emotional injuries.
Specifically, this case study involves a 20-session, teletherapy treatment of a couple named “Alice” and “Steve,” aged 74 and 75, respectively, with Steve suffering from advanced Parkinson’s Disease. The couple presented with hopelessness and resentment about their caregiving situation, unresolved traumas from early childhood fueling their relationship’s sore spots, and unprocessed grief and fears concerning losses at the end stage of life.
The EFCT-guided treatment focused on promoting transformational and corrective experiences of secure attachment bonding and was importantly successful in resolving their presenting problems.
*** For a Table of Contents and pdf links to the articles, click on the upper left button labeled "Newest Case" or the button labeled "Current."
