Schema Therapy with Couples

Chiara Simeone-DiFrancesco founded Wisconsin Family Growth & Reconciliation Center LLC, working with couples for 25 years in private practice. Chiara now directs the Marriage & Family Schema Therapy Institute, a division of the non-profit Healing International, Inc. she co-founded in 1986. A former Lieutenant in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, she is founder and chair of the ISST Subcommittee & Workgroup of Marital and Couples Schema Therapy. Eckhard Roediger is a Neurologist, Psychiatrist, and Psychotherapist based in Frankfurt, Germany. He is a former chief physician of the Salus Klinik Hospital, and is currently Director of the Frankfurt Schema Therapy Institute and President of the ISST. He is the author of several German language books on Schema Therapy.   Bruce A. Stevens (PhD Boston University, 1987) holds the Wicking Chair of Ageing and Practical Theology at Charles Sturt University and is the director of the Centre of Ageing and Pastoral Studies. He was previously Associate Professor in clinical psychology at the University of Canberra where he convened the program with over 60 graduate students from 2009-2014. He is an endorsed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with a part-time private practice at Canberra Clinical and Forensic Psychology, a practice he founded in the early 1990’s. He has been chair of the Canberra section of the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society. He gives many professional workshops on couple therapy throughout Australia. He has is a trainer in Schema Therapy with both individual and couple accreditation with the ISST.

List of Figures and Tables vii

About the Authors viii

Preface x

Acknowledgments xiii

Abbreviations xiv

Introduction xv

About the Companion Website xvii

1 What Schema Therapy Offers 1

2 The Initial Contract and First Interview 13

3 Relationship Assessment 29

4 Understanding the Origins of Relational Styles 45

5 Foundations for Evidence]Based Practice in Couple Therapy 57

6 Schemas and Modes 69

7 Approaching Schema Therapy for Couples 95

8 Mode Mapping and Mode Cycle Clash]cards 109

9 Interventions in Couple Treatment 139

10 Common Problems in Couple Therapy, Including Affairs, Forgiveness, and Violence 173

11 Differentiating Needs from Wants, and the Challenge of Integration 215

12 Building Friendship, Building the Healthy Adult 239

Appendix A: Self-care for the Couple Therapist 253

References 261

Index of Therapy Tools and Interventions 271

Index 273