Developmental couples therapy : a study of Bader and Person's (1988) diagnostic and treatment model
Date
1995
Authors
Barabash, Kenneth John
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Abstract
The study is an empirical investigation which tests the merits of Bader and Pearson's (1988) developmental model of couples therapy. Bader and Pearson (1988) postulated that developmental couples therapy closely parallels the childhood developmental stages delineated by Mahler, Pine, and Bergman (1975). Not unlike the maternal-infant attachment developmental process, adults progress through a similar separation/individuation couplehood process of developmental stages: symbiosis, differentiating, practicing, and rapprochement.
Quantitative measures (e.g., Developmental Couples Therapy Coding System and Developmental Couples Therapy Graph) were developed by the author to test and evaluate the prescribed qualitative diagnostic tools and treatment. The
study employed four (n = 8) couples. The findings lend some empirical support in the area of the positively enhancing in each partner a greater developmental sense of self and a greater developmental sense of coupleness. Directions for future research include a deeper understanding (i.e., mutivariate statistical analysis) of the developmental variables as they pertain to respective developmental stages.