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I’ve been highlighting ways I’ve used Initiator-Inquirer when working with couples who have experienced infidelity. Recently I shared a role play with a couple we called Logan and Marta. I demonstrated how I might work with Marta, who had been cheated on in the Initiator role. You can find that exchange right here.
Now today, I’m going to shift to the part of the role play demonstrating how I might work with the other partner, Logan, in his role as the Inquirer. I began by feeding him a question:
Ellyn:Can you ask her to tell you what it's like to be tracking you?
Logan:Can you tell me what it's like to be tracking me?… Read more... 
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Affairs and InfidelityA Couples Therapy Session After Infidelity: Transcript of a Role-play, Part Two
I’ve been highlighting ways I’ve used Initiator-Inquirer when working with couples who have experienced infidelity. Recently I shared a role play with a couple we called Logan and Marta. I demonstrated how I might work with Marta, who had been cheated on in the Initiator role. You can find that exchange right here.
Now today, I’m going to shift to the part of the role play demonstrating how I might work with the other partner, Logan, in his role as the Inquirer. I began by feeding him a question:
Ellyn:Can you ask her to tell you what it's like to be tracking you?
Logan:Can you tell me what it's like to be tracking me?… Read more... A Couples Therapy Session After Infidelity: Transcript of a Role-play
Infidelity can be devastating to a couple’s relationship. Even before we walk into the room and learn anything about the couple, we can be sure the crisis has them deeply unsettled.
In my last blog post, I gave an overview of some of the issues you are likely to confront when working with a case like this. If you missed it, you can find it right here.
Many times, a couple will want to rush you, or you may want to rush yourself to move faster than a couple is ready. So, in your work, it’s crucial to slow things down. One way to slow things down is to use the Initiator-Inquirer process with them.
The Initiator-Inquirer is a powerful exercise that gives partners specific skills to learn and apply so they can manage their own emotional volatility during tense discussions.… Read more... Using a Developmental Approach and the Initiator-Inquirer Process with Cases of Infidelity
Few situations are as painful for a couple, and as difficult for a couples’ therapist to work through as the experience of infidelity.
The bottom-line questions you’ll inevitably be working with include:
What is trust?
Can it be restored?
If so, how is it going to be restored?
Who gets to define trust, and how does all of this happen?
As I’ve worked with couples around this issue, I’ve seen several specific challenges that typically come up. I thought it could be useful to you in your work if I outlined some of the important steps that are involved after infidelity is revealed.
Stage 1: Stabilize the Conflict
For many partners, betrayal is likely one of the worst experiences they encounter.… Read more... Managing First Sessions After an Affair
Treating couples in the aftermath of an affair is one of the most important challenges you will face. Other problems gradually weaken a relationship, but infidelity, once it is discovered, rips it apart abruptly and violently.
So much is at stake.
You have two partners who are hurting for very different reasons.
They both want the pain to stop.
You enter the couple’s world at this time of turmoil, rage, despair – and at a time when the meaning of the affair is fuzzy. Even though it may be presented to you as if there is one perpetrator and one victim, it’s not so conveniently black and white.
How you position yourself and what you accomplish in that first session matters a lot.… Read more... The Value of Obsessing About an Affair
When two people get together, they date and spend time getting to know each other. For some, the “falling in love” is intense and the decision to become a couple is easy. For others, it is far more difficult as they thoughtfully consider differences in challenging areas such as religion, culture, social class, child-rearing, or where to live.
Then the two partners decide to marry or live together in a committed partnership, and that decision draws a boundary around the “two of them” as a couple.
This decision, when done well, completes the initial bonding stage of a relationship and paves the way for a healthy, growth-promoting process of differentiation.… Read more... Losing Momentum: After an Affair When One Partner Keeps Obsessing About the Details of a Partner’s Affair
In today’s world of cell phones, text messages and emails, it has become much easier for partners to unearth infidelity – and to be able to follow the communication trail between lovers.… Read more... Painful Interactions Are Defining Moments in Couples Therapy Sooner or later you will encounter a situation where one partner is aggressively triggered in your office.
They explode after hearing an unexpected comment. At that point they are flooded with emotion and become explosively furious. They often just want to “express their rage” and they definitely don’t want to be interrupted.… Read more... Building Effective Collaboration with a Highly Anxious Client A common scenario that many of us see in our practices is the over-functioning wife with the anxious-avoidant husband. He is a highly anxious procrastinator and is often not accountable for what he says he will do.… Read more... Felony Lies At the end of last month’s post, I asked you to think about a couple’s unfolding history and share how you would structure treatment after disclosure of an affair and a history of lies and deceit. What might you say to them at the end of the first session? And what would be some considerations for you in structuring the next session? … Read more... Lies to the Self, Lies to the Partner and Lies to the Therapist When working with a couple in the aftermath of infidelity, how do you approach lies and a history of deception? When is a lie “just a little white lie” and when is it much more serious? Is it a common pattern of deception, does it represent a developmental issue, or is it a character issue? How likely is it that a partner will continue lying to you? Does that change what you do and, if so, how?… Read more... |
