Evaluating couples

by Mark A. Karpel

Evaluating Couples provides specific recommendations on every aspect of the evaluation, including handling the initial telephone call, conducting the initial couple session and subsequent individual sessions with each partner, deciding on treatment recommendations (including when not to recommend couple therapy), and designing and delivering the therapist's response to the couple at the conclusion of the evaluation. Evaluating Couples is designed for practitioners who devote a majority of their professional time to treating couples and for those who want to sharpen their skills in this area. It is also designed to help students who are learning about counseling and psychotherapy, especially those who plan to conduct couple therapy, sex therapy, or family therapy; it will help them "start out right" and give them a framework for evaluating couples in the context of other forms of treatment.