Couple Power Therapy Building Commitment, Cooperation, Communication, and Community in Relationships

In Couple Power Therapy: Building Commitment, Cooperation, Communication, and Community in Relationships, Sheras and Koch-Sheras introduce the Couple Power Therapy model, an exciting new approach in which partners cocreate a unified vision for their relationship. These seasoned couples therapists use a series of sequential tasks to teach the partners how to transcend their individual identities to nurture "the couple as entity," in effect, crafting a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This shifts the paradigm away from the therapist's responsibility for success to the couple's responsibility, from the more negative emphasis of focusing on problems to a more positive goal of creating a fulfilling relationship, and from a quick fix to lifelong development skills.

Peter L. Sheras, PhD, ABPP, is a clinical psychologist and a professor in the University of Virginia's Curry Programs in Clinical and School Psychology Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras, PhD, is a practicing clinical psychologist