The couple who fell in hate: Eclectic psychodynamic therapy with an angry couple

Abstract

Couples in which the husband is passive and the wife aggressive are a common sight in today's therapy clinics. Such couples are difficult to work with because they have become addicted to their ritual of hate, which offers each a secondary gratification. To work with them, therapists often need to be creative and utilize eclectic approaches. In this instance, I have used a paradoxical behavioral approach combined with psychoanalysis.