Therapy to Determine Whether to Stay or Go : Discernment Therapy and Relationship Rescue Therapy (Part I)
To stay or go that is the question. Dr. William Doherty a well respected marriage therapist, has developed a therapy he has called Discernment Therapy. He has designed this work to help couples that are on the brink of divorce to decide whether or not to divorce. One of the biggest reasons that counseling fails is that couples wait too long to come for counseling.
Discernment Counseling and other couples counseling approaches will have a higher success rate as they to get to the problems before resentments builds and the relationship develops on over load of negative history.
Another wonderful reference for help is Contemplating Divorce: Whether to Stay or Go. By Susan Pease Gadoua. (If you would like more information about this book you can go to my blogs on December 14, 15, and 16 2011.)
When I do what I call Relationship Rescue Counseling * and what I believe Dr. Doherty does in his Discernment Therapy is focused on dealing with counseling when one member of the couple has one foot out the door. In these approaches, to determine if a couple should work on being together or divorcing it is necessary to have a structure that focuses on helping the couple develop anger management as well improved communication skills. It is also important to learn how to negotiate as well as how to problem solve.
If at all possible and appropriate, I believe couples should be helped to stay together, they have a “love history”, often they have children, and divorce reeks havoc with finances and most importantly often times the same problems come up again in future relationships. Folks can purchase my Relationship Rescue Manual, on the site, which will help them to figure out how to move forward in their relationship.
Negotiation for Couples“ another book that can be purchased can also be of help in learning how to successful deal with different priorities and perspectives.