Self-regulation in behavioral couples' therapy

Traditionally, practitioers of Behavioral couples Therapy (BCT) conduct conjoint therapy sessions attempting to change both partners' behavior simultaneously. In this paper, we argue that often BCT implicity focuses clients on changing their partners, which can be counter-productive, and describe a self-regulation model of marital functioning that emphasizes individual responsibility through self-identification of behavioral excesses and deficits, self-defined behavior change goals, self-determination of performance standards and providing suitable consequences. The self-regulation model can be applied within conjoint or individual therapy sessions addressing marital problems. From the self-regulation perspective, the process of marital therapy usually involves moving clients from a partner-blaming perspective, to a self-regulation model of marital problems. This shift in perspective encourages clients to identify changes they can make to improve their relationship rather than depending upon change by their partners.

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