CFT 412 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Center For Process Studies
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Class 16: May 30
Relationship
Enrichment
● What is it?
○ Often preventative
○ „ Designed for healthy/well-functioning relationships
○ Utilized with increased frequency for distressed
relationships
Educational component
● „ Goals:
○ Become aware of self and partner/s
○ Explore own thoughts/feelings, thoughts/feelings of
partner/s„ Encourage empathy and intimacy
○ „ Develop effective communication and problem-solving
skills
Benefits
● „ Empirical evidence for the effectiveness of relationship
enrichment programs
● Studies demonstrate that those participating experience:„
○ Improved relationship satisfaction
○ Better sexual intimacy
○ „ Increased intellectual Intimacy
○ „ More self-disclosure
○ „ Improved ability to Identify needs and wants
● Enhanced communication and conflict resolution skills
● Lower levels of relationship violence
● Process studies:
○ Couples have reported relationship enrichment programs as
a positive experience that they would recommend to others
Three Main Objectives
● Increase positivity outside of conflict
● Increase positivity
● Decrease negativity during conflict
Effective
Relationship
Enrichment Starts
with Good
Assessment
● Process and Content
○ Process: the way in which the couple interacts
○ Content: the details of their communication
● Other parts of assessment
○ Health status (current & historical)
○ Relational process
○ Social context (ecological influences/systemic/diversity
considerations)
○ Relational objectives; shared goals
○ Change orientation
○ Strengths/assets
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Utilized with increased frequency for distressed relationships. Explore own thoughts/feelings, thoughts/feelings of partner/s encourage empathy and intimacy. Develop effective communication and problem-solving skills. Empirical evidence for the effectiveness of relationship enrichment programs. Improved ability to identify needs and wants. Couples have reported relationship enrichment programs as a positive experience that they would recommend to others. Process: the way in which the couple interacts. Gottman method couples therapy structures all assessments and interventions around the sound relationship house model. Couples have two kinds of problems: solvable or perpetual and unsolvable. Prepares partners to better manage stressful events and conflict. Knowing the little things about your partner"s life creates a strong foundation for love and intimacy. Goals, fears, hopes, dreams, major life events in partner"s history . Set of open-ended prompts to stimulate conversation with each other. Speaking the right love language helps keep the love tank full. Slip ups, harsh words, etc. , can take fuel out of the love tank .
