Description

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From the country’s leading couple therapist duo, a practical guide to what makes it all work.

In 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, two of the world’s leading couple researchers and therapists give readers an inside tour of what goes on inside the consulting rooms of their practice. They have been doing couples work for decades and still find it challenging and full of learning experiences. This book distills the knowledge they've gained over their years of practice into ten principles at the core of good couples work. Each principle is illustrated with a clinically compiled case plus personal side-notes and storytelling. Topics addressed include:



• You know that you need to “treat the relationship,” but how are you supposed to get at something as elusive as “a relationship”?

• How do you empathize with both clients if they have opposite points of view? Later on, if they end up separating does that mean you’ve failed? Are you only successful if you keep couples together?

• Compared to an individual client, a relationship is an entirely different animal. What should you do first? What should you look for? What questions should you ask? If clients give different answers, who should you believe?

• What are you supposed to do with all the emotional and personal history that your clients stir up in you?

• How can you make your work research-based?



No one who works with couples will want to be without the insight, guidance, and strategies offered in this book.

About the Author

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Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD, is the cofounder of The Gottman Institute and of Affective Software, Inc., and was recently honored with 2021 Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Psychotherapy Networker. She resides on Orcas Island, Washington.

John M. Gottman, PhD, is the cofounder of The Gottman Institute and of Affective Software, Inc., and was recently honored with 2021 Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Psychotherapy Networker. He resides on Orcas Island, Washington.

Noted neuropsychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, and executive director of the Mindsight Institute in LA. He is founding editor of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology.

Praise For…

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If you enjoy seeing the Gottmans as presenters, you will love their most recent book, 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy. Extraordinary therapists and gifted researchers, it’s as if you can hear the authors’ voices emanate from the text. . . . [E]asy to read, while also providing useful concepts and a formula that works. . . . Of course, I recommend this book. It can be used as a resource guide, as well as one that offers immediate tools for working with clients. The research-based wisdom will no doubt become standardized knowledge because of how applicable it is for clinical work.

— The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter

[L]ike their previous books, 10 Principles attempts to break down a complex issue into something more tangible. . . . [T]he heart of this text focuses on well-crafted principles for effective therapy, and includes scientific research, assessments, exercises, and statistics. . . . Few things are more fascinating than when therapy and scientific research come together, which is precisely why any work produced by John or Julie Gottman makes for an interesting read.
— PsychCentral

Known for their iconic research on couples, their prolific writings, and the development of a couples therapy informed by their research findings, Julie and John Gottman, in this well written and comprehensive book, gift their clinical wisdom and processes to couples therapists. Filled with clinical insight, coherent theory, case illustrations, various data gathering forms, and a treatment plan, this book should increase the competence and confidence of any clinician who is wise enough to read it.
— Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD, co-creators of Imago Relationship Therapy and authors of Doing Imago Relationship Therapy in the Space-Between

In 10 principles, this book lays out in an eminently readable and accessible way the basic steps of effective couple therapy. It is a great contribution to the field and will guide numerous therapists onto the path of successful intervention.
— Sue Johnson, author of Hold Me Tight and Love Sense; Founding Director of The International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy

The Gottmans are history's leading couples therapists. To offer clients marital therapy without understanding the Gottmans' groundbreaking contributions is unwise. Having researched martial success and happiness, they present their findings clearly and succinctly in 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, so that clinicians of all persuasions and skill levels can effectively help couples thrive.

— Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD, Founder and Director, The Milton H. Erickson Foundation

This book offers a clinical map for couples therapy that is both instructional and reassuring. You will find clear and helpful guidelines for adapting the Gottmans' evidence-based approach to your work with couples. Since relationship skill deficits underlie many couples' struggles, this skill-building model will be instrumental in helping you guide distant and warring couples, and in so doing, it will make your work infinitely more satisfying.
— Michele Weiner-Davis, author of Divorce Busting and Founder of divorcebusting.com