The Intimate Couple

As important as intimacy is in our personal and professional lives, intimacy as a theoretical and clinical factor still remains a phenomenon. Currently, there appears to be as many definitions of intimacy as there are individuals writing about intimacy. In The Intimate Couple, the contributors agree - despite their theoretical orientation - that individuals have a need for both belonging and autonomy, and that balancing these two needs is the basic challenge in intimate relationships. Each chapter addresses this challenge both theoretically and clinically.

In the first section, the contributors articulate the construct of intimacy within a number of contexts, including a Marital Intimacy Questionnaire and seven strategies for assessing intimacy in the clinical context. Following this, the focus turns to different methods for treating couples, such as cognitive-behavioural and post-modern collaborative approaches, and the use of reality therapy. Finally, these contributors address the variety of issues that arise when dealing with intimacy, such as the relationship between spirituality and intimacy, intimacy in bisexual couples, or intimacy problems when one or both partners in the relationship have severe psychiatric disorders.

Overall, the contributors provide the best possible clinical milieu for the couples they work with in therapy and in couples workshops, and present trainees with the most current, cutting-edge theory and research. The editors have assembled this group of expert clinicians, theorists, and researchers and have challenged them to move the field of couples and marital therapy into its prime.