Abstract

In the present study we aim to increase our knowledge of the relationship between childhood trauma and outcome in couple therapy. We sampled participants based on their suboptimal responses to treatment as well as one member of the dyad having reported experiences of childhood trauma. Six participants constituting three couples were included. All data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Our main finding was that when couples are not able to agree on the goal of their therapy and this is not handled adequately by the therapist, the alliance tends to split. The therapy thus becomes more individually focused at the expense of the couple relationship. Generally, participants did not themselves assess their past traumas as having negatively impacted therapy giving instead credence as to how it has impacted their self-knowledge. In the future, longitudinal studies should be conducted to explore if there is an association across treatment between trauma and the therapeutic relationship, and the influence it might have on outcome. The findings of this study further support the already existing literature on the importance of alliance and elaborates upon how split alliances occur, develops, and constrains therapy.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2022.2053262

摘要

在本研究中，我们旨在增加我们对儿童创伤与夫妻治疗结果之间关系的了解。我们根据参与者对治疗的次优反应以及其中一名报告了童年创伤经历的成员对参与者进行了抽样。包括三对夫妇的六名参与者。所有数据均使用主题分析法进行分析。我们的主要发现是，当夫妻不能就他们的治疗目标达成一致并且治疗师没有充分处理时，联盟往往会分裂。因此，治疗变得更加个人化，以牺牲夫妻关系为代价。一般来说，参与者自己不会将他们过去的创伤评估为对治疗产生负面影响，而是相信它如何影响他们的自我认识。将来，应进行纵向研究，以探讨创伤与治疗关系之间是否存在跨治疗关联，以及它可能对结果产生的影响。这项研究的结果进一步支持了关于联盟重要性的现有文献，并详细阐述了分裂联盟如何发生、发展和限制治疗。

本文的补充数据可在线获取，网址为 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2022.2053262