Treating the Difficult Divorce

Divorce can be an exceptional challenge for couples and children who must endure acrimony, accusations, fear and anxiety for the future. Divorce is also a substantial challenge for mental health professionals, as standard psychotherapeutic approaches can prove insufficient for the complexities of families in crisis.

Drawing on the integrative tradition that considers both individual and systemic processes, as well as his nearly 40 years of clinical practice, Jay L. Lebow presents his approach to treating difficult divorce. He describes strategies for intervention that show therapists how to calm individuals, couples, and families in acute distress, and help ease the transition to a new family structure.

Chapters highlight the research on divorce and mental health; describe concrete interventions that achieve realistic treatment goals; explain how therapists interact with the legal system in divorce cases; and offer adaptations for different types of divorce, including high-conflict and more normative divorces.

The approach can be used by one or more therapists, working with the whole family, a divorcing couple, a parent and child, or even an adult or child seen in individual therapy.

Preface

Introduction

1. Working in the Territory of Difficult Divorce
2. Divorce Today
3. Considerations in Psychotherapy With Clients Contemplating Divorce
4. Intervention With Divorce
5. Structuring Treatment in Difficult Divorce
6. Specific Treatment Strategies in Difficult Divorce
7. Interacting With the Legal System and Other Professionals
8. Special Challenges and Problems in Difficult Divorce
9. The Therapist's Interface With Difficult Divorce
10. Adaptations for Less Difficult Divorces
11. Case Examples: Working With Difficult Divorce

References

Index

About the Author

Jay Lebow, PhD, ABPP, is senior scholar and senior therapist at the Family Institute at Northwestern and clinical professor of psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Family Process.

Dr. Lebow has authored or coauthored six books, including Couple and Family Therapy: An Integrative Map of the Territory; Research for the Psychotherapist: From Science to Practice; Integrative Systemic Therapy: Metaframeworks for Problem Solving With Individuals, Couples, and Families; and Common Factors in Couple and Family Therapy: The Overlooked Foundation for Effective Practice.

He is the editor of seven other volumes, including Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, Handbook of Family Therapy, and Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. He has written more than 200 articles and book chapters, most of which focus on couple and family therapy, research about psychotherapy, therapy for high-conflict divorce, and the relationship between research and practice.

For more than 30 years, he has engaged in clinical practice, supervision, and research; is board certified in couple and family psychology; and is an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy-approved supervisor.

Dr. Lebow served as president of the Society of Couple and Family Psychology and has received the Society's Family Psychologist of the Year award as well as the American Family Therapy Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lebow’s book is essential for the novice family therapist and yet still a treasure trove of information for the seasoned family therapist.
—The Family Psychologist