Peter Fraenkel – The Last-Chance Couple: Saving Relationships on the Eve of Destruction

Faculty:
Peter Fraenkel
Duration:
2 Hours 36 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
Copyright:
Mar 24, 2018

Peter Fraenkel – The Last-Chance Couple: Saving Relationships on the Eve of Destruction

Description

Unhappy couples often present in ways that offer little promise their relationship can be saved, leaving the partners feeling helpless and the therapist feeling stumped. But hope can spring anew when we have a toolbox of techniques to help these couples interact in different ways, turning even the most toxic marriage, full of disdainful feelings, into one of positive growth.
Watch Peter Fraenkel use recorded demonstrations that focus on four types of last-chance couples, and show how to engage them in transforming their relationship.

Handouts

Manual (0.78 MB)
58 Pages
Available after Purchase

Outline
Four Types of Last Chance Couples

High conflict couples
Couples where there has been a value or safety violation

Domestic violence
Infidelity
Gambling
Abuse of substances

Couples where partners have mismatched personal time lines/life goals

Explicit Time Problems
Implicit Time Problems

Couples with little to know passionate connection

Burned out and conflict avoidant couples

How to Engage the Partner Who is Ambivalent about Staying in the Marriage

Inviting and validating the partner’s ambivalent feelings
Creating Comfort and Safety with the Committed Partner
Self-Disclosing

Techniques that Restore Hope and a Possible Better Future

Teaching communication and problem-solving skills that restore hope
Introducing reframes of problem patterns that restore a sense of the positive qualities of the relationship
Gratitude Writing

Ideas that Encourage Couples to Try New Patterns of Interacting

Communication Techniques

Brief introduction to research-supported communication and problem-solving techniques
Techniques for Restoring Pleasure and Passion
The Sixty Second Pleasure Point activity
The Silent Shared New Experience activity

Faculty

Peter Fraenkel, PhD Related seminars and products: 2

Peter Fraenkel, PhD, is a psychologist, associate professor of psychology at the City College of New York, and former director of the Center for Work and Family at the Ackerman Institute. He received the 2012 American Family Therapy Award for Innovative Contribution to Family Therapy.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Peter Fraenkel is in private practice. He is director of the Ackerman Institute for the Family’s Center for Work and Family.
Non-financial: Peter Fraenkel has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.