John Gottman’s philosophical assumptions towards couples therapy interventions is most closely realized in the Collaborative Couples Therapy model of Dan Wile. It is the intent of this presentation to show how.
3. GOTTMAN COUPLES THERAPY
METHOD PRESENTATION #3
“When it comes
to the treatment of
relationships, I must
consider myself
utterly at a loss!”
Sigmund Freud (1912)
5. Sound Marital House
cREATING
sHARED mEANING
Making Dreams come true
4 Parts of Problem Solving &
Dialogue with perpetual issues
Positive Sentiment Override
Turning Towards vs
Turning Away
Fondness & admiration
LOVE MAPS
10. Intervention Assumptions
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
11. Intervention Assumptions
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
12. Intervention Assumptions
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
13. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
14. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
15. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
• Goal is to shift from the Tx as necessary to
not needed
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
16. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
• Goal is to shift from the Tx as necessary to
not needed
• The center pole of the circus tent
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
17. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
• Goal is to shift from the Tx as necessary to
not needed
• The center pole of the circus tent
• Tx has to learn how to shut up
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
18. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
19. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
• The “Unfortunate Heritage” systemic
therapies regarding emotion
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
20. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
• The “Unfortunate Heritage” systemic
therapies regarding emotion
• Typical example of Tx posture to emotion
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
21. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
• The “Unfortunate Heritage” systemic
therapies regarding emotion
• Typical example of Tx posture to emotion
• Therapeutic attunement to client energy
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
22. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
23. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
• All emotions all wishes are acceptable
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
24. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
• All emotions all wishes are acceptable
• Need for therapist to look at their own meta-
emotion internal working model
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
25. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
• All emotions all wishes are acceptable
• Need for therapist to look at their own meta-
emotion internal working model
• Do not declare war on anger
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
26. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
• All emotions all wishes are acceptable
• Need for therapist to look at their own meta-
emotion internal working model
• Do not declare war on anger
• Learning about emotion is state dependant
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
27. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
28. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
• Interventions should seem easy to do
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
29. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
• Interventions should seem easy to do
• Should not be mystifying or foreign
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
30. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
• Interventions should seem easy to do
• Should not be mystifying or foreign
• Expect “oh... this is all there is to it?”
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
31. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
• Interventions should seem easy to do
• Should not be mystifying or foreign
• Expect “oh... this is all there is to it?”
• Reader Rabbit Approach
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
32. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
33. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
• All too common - the client’s flaws pointed
out to them
Should not be idealistic
34. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
• All too common - the client’s flaws pointed
out to them
• The culture of “Nailing People”
Should not be idealistic
35. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
• All too common - the client’s flaws pointed
out to them
• The culture of “Nailing People”
• Needs to highlight two homeostatic states
Should not be idealistic
36. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
37. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
38. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
• My approach “the good enough marriage”
39. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
• My approach “the good enough marriage”
• Some assert that couples therapy success can
heal childhood wounds
40. Intervention Assumptions
Therapy should be dyadic
Therapist’s role in self soothing
Role of emotion
LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COST
Therapy should be positive
Should not be idealistic
• My approach “the good enough marriage”
• Some assert that couples therapy success can
heal childhood wounds
• You wont be alone in your woundedness
45. Session Structure
• Catch up on
burning issue
• If not, process the
last week
• Ask for the
couple’s
Intervention
46. Session Structure
• Catch up on
burning issue
• If not, process the
last week
• Ask for the
couple’s
Intervention
• Homework
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
47. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week
• Ask for the
couple’s
Intervention
• Homework
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
48. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week • RESISTANCE???
• Ask for the
couple’s
Intervention
• Homework
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
49. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week • RESISTANCE???
• Ask for the • Poor responses
couple’s
Intervention
• Homework
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
50. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week • RESISTANCE???
• Ask for the • Poor responses
couple’s • “Hitting Paydirt”
Intervention
• Homework
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
51. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week • RESISTANCE???
• Ask for the • Poor responses
couple’s • “Hitting Paydirt”
Intervention • Process they are
• Homework stuck on
intervention that is
in keeping with in-
session learning
52. Session Structure
• Catch up on • Get the couple to
burning issue own the
• If not, process the intervention
last week • RESISTANCE???
• Ask for the • Poor responses
couple’s • “Hitting Paydirt”
Intervention • Process they are
• Homework stuck on
intervention that is • Explore narratives
in keeping with in-
of their internal
session learning
working model
55. 6 Goals of Intervention
MASSING/fading/long sessions
56. 6 Goals of Intervention
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
57. 6 Goals of Intervention
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
58. 6 Goals of Intervention
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
59. 6 Goals of Intervention
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
60. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
61. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
62. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
• Biofeedback, in-session breaks, 5 markers
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
63. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
• Biofeedback, in-session breaks, 5 markers
• Homework to have discussion about stress
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
64. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
• Biofeedback, in-session breaks, 5 markers
• Homework to have discussion about stress
• Offer soothing action to partner
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
65. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
66. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
• First step - have a recovery conversation later
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
67. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
• First step - have a recovery conversation later
• 2nd step - Have a recovery conversation right
after the fight
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
68. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
• First step - have a recovery conversation later
• 2nd step - Have a recovery conversation right
after the fight
• 3rd step - Repair during the fight (Having the
conversation they needed to have)
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
69. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
70. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
• Identify the 4 Horsemen and offer them the
antidotes right in session
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
71. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
• Identify the 4 Horsemen and offer them the
antidotes right in session
• Identify evidence of psychological abuse and
offer alternatives
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
72. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
73. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
74. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
• Soften start up
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
75. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
• Soften start up
• Accepting Influence
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
76. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
• Soften start up
• Accepting Influence
• Self-soothing
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
77. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
• Soften start up
• Accepting Influence
• Self-soothing
• Repair and de-escalation
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
78. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
• 4 Horsemen
• Soften start up
• Accepting Influence
• Self-soothing
• Repair and de-escalation
• Compromise
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
79. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
80. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
• Defensiveness & NSO
MASSING/fading/long sessions
81. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
• Defensiveness & NSO
• Anatomy of failed bids
MASSING/fading/long sessions
82. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
• Defensiveness & NSO
• Anatomy of failed bids
• Building rituals of connection
MASSING/fading/long sessions
83. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
• Defensiveness & NSO
• Anatomy of failed bids
• Building rituals of connection
• Deepening Love Maps
MASSING/fading/long sessions
84. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
• Defensiveness & NSO
• Anatomy of failed bids
• Building rituals of connection
• Deepening Love Maps
• Resistance/SMH/psychopathology
MASSING/fading/long sessions
85. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
86. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
87. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
• Longer earlier sessions (1.5 hrs)
88. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
• Longer earlier sessions (1.5 hrs)
• 2-3 wk vacations once couple trajectory has
shifted
89. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
• Longer earlier sessions (1.5 hrs)
• 2-3 wk vacations once couple trajectory has
shifted
• Ongoing homework - MAGIC 5 HOURS/wk
90. 6 Goals of Intervention
Self/other Soothing
3 Steps towards repair
Label Dysfunctional actions
provide antidotes
ESTABLISH 6 SOCIAL SKILLS
Build Marital Friendship
MASSING/fading/long sessions
• Longer earlier sessions (1.5 hrs)
• 2-3 wk vacations once couple trajectory has
shifted
• Ongoing homework - MAGIC 5 HOURS/wk
• Follow couple for a year (sessions 3-6 mos)
95. Dan Wile PhD
"I love Wile's writing and thinking. They are entirely
consistent with many of my research findings. I think
that Wile is a genius and the greatest living marital
therapist. I am blessed to have been able to exchange
ideas with him.”
102. Dan Wile PhD
Clearing the air - fight
For many years, I felt that if only I were able to reach
through to soft-underbelly feelings, I could snap partners
out of their "feeling-so-stung-by-what-their-partners-just-
said-that-they-must-immediately-sting-back adversarial"
couple state.
I now believe that what I need to do is to help them
sting back better -- that is, sting in a way that touches
closer to the heart of what is upsetting them, provides
greater satisfaction and sense of vindication, or make it a
little more likely that their partners will be able to listen
instead of just immediately sting back harder.
I want to turn the partners into the kind of couple for
whom fighting clears the air -- partners who feel that
105. Dan Wile PhD
Confiding Soft underbelly emotions
This minute in a life of a couple shows how little of what
goes on in anyone's mind ever gets expressed -- or even
remembered. It reveals a reality about couple
relationships so squarely in front of our eyes that it is
hard to see.
The therapeutic task, when partners are in such a state,
is to dig through to soft underbelly feelings. It is the
inability of partners to confide their soft-underbelly
feelings -- their failure to bring the other in on their
experience (or realize what it is themselves) -- that
creates the "alienated" couple state.
Shifting into another state means suddenly having a new
set of feelings, wishes, thoughts, and awarenesses; it