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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 1–4Cite as

Discernment Counseling in Couple and Family Therapy

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Introduction

Discernment counseling is a short-term intervention for “mixed-agenda” couples where one partner is leaning out of the relationship and is ambivalent about doing couples therapy, and the other partner wants to preserve the relationship and start couples therapy. Therapists often struggle with these couples because there is no common commitment to therapy (Crosby 1989). Discernment counseling is a “pre-therapy” protocol in which the goal is to help the spouses develop greater clarity and confidence about a direction for the marriage, based on a deeper understanding of what’s happened to the marriage and each partner’s contributions to the problems. It is intended for couples who are married or have otherwise made a permanent commitment. The focus is not whether to divorce or stay married for life, but whether to divorce or carve out a 6-month period of all-out effort in couples therapy to restore the marriage to health, with divorce off the table during that time.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    William J. Doherty

Authors
  1. William J. Doherty
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Correspondence to William J. Doherty .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. University of Saint Joseph, West Harford, CT, USA

    Rachel Diamond

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Doherty, W.J. (2018). Discernment Counseling in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_696-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_696-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Discernment Counseling in Couple and Family Therapy
    Published:
    22 November 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_696-2

  2. Original

    Discernment Counseling in Couples and Family Therapy
    Published:
    20 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_696-1

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