RESUMO
This paper will explore the role of the therapist's values in couple therapy and the challenge these values pose to therapeutic neutrality. It will illuminate how the therapist's values shape what is considered healthy and unhealthy, functional and dysfunctional, and hence frame the problem the couple therapist seeks to treat. Values have particular relevance for couple treatment because the conversations the couple therapist facilitates may unwittingly privilege one partner's needs and wishes over the other's, creating the potential for therapeutic misalliances. This paper will explore common values and their impact on treatment, including the values of monogamy, gender equity, and talk intimacy (emotional expression as a path to intimacy). It will conclude by discussing how couple therapists can avoid partisanship with one partner and maintain a balanced approach in their couple work.
RESUMO
Partners in intimate relationships rely on each other to meet essential emotional needs. This mutual dependence creates reciprocal obligations, engendering a moral dimension to intimate relationships. This moral dimension involves questions of fairness, equity, and justice which are often central to couples' presenting complaints in treatment. This paper proposes that moral considerations in couple therapy are not only inevitable, but potentially beneficial, and illustrates how they can inform the therapist's case conceptualizations and interventions. This paper will also explore the therapist's responsible use of her moral influence through an examination of personal values. This paper utilizes concepts from psychodynamic and family systems theory to illustrate key points, but the ideas presented apply to therapists with diverse theoretical orientations.
Cada integrante de una relación amorosa confía en el otro integrante para satisfacer necesidades emocionales esenciales. Esta dependencia mutua crea obligaciones recíprocas, generando un aspecto moral de las relaciones amorosas. Este aspecto moral implica cuestiones de honestidad, equidad y justicia, que generalmente están en el centro de las quejas que presentan las parejas en tratamiento. En el presente artículo se propone que las consideraciones morales en la terapia de pareja no son solamente inevitables, sino posiblemente beneficiosas, y se ejemplifica cómo pueden respaldar las conceptualizaciones y las intervenciones en el caso del terapeuta. En este artículo también se analizará el uso responsable del terapeuta de su influencia moral mediante un análisis de los valores personales. También se emplean conceptos de la teoría de sistemas psicodinámica y familiar para ejemplificar puntos clave, pero las ideas presentadas les incumben a terapeutas con orientaciones teóricas diversas.