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Managing Marital Therapy

Helping Partners Change

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Abstract

Marriage, the most intimate adult relationship most people experience, is perceived by the majority of adults as their primary source of support and affection (Levinger & Huston, 1990); high quality marriage is a strong predictor of adults’ reports of global life happiness (Glenn & Weaver, 1981). Most unmarried adults expect to marry at some point in their lives and for that marriage to be life long (Millward, 1990).

Marriage is one of the most nearly universal of human institutions. No other touches so intimately the lives of practically every member of the earth’s population.

Lewis M. Terman, 1938, p. 1

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Weiss, R.L., Halford, W.K. (1996). Managing Marital Therapy. In: Van Hasselt, V.B., Hersen, M. (eds) Sourcebook of Psychological Treatment Manuals for Adult Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1528-3_13

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