Interracial Couples Intimacy And Therapy

Grounded in the personal narratives of twenty interracial couples with multiracial children, this volume uniquely explores interracial couples' encounters with racism and discrimination, partner difference, family identity, and counseling and therapy. It intimately portrays how race, class, and gender shape relationship dynamics and a partner's sense of belonging. Assessment tools and intervention techniques help professionals and scholars work effectively with multiracial families as they negotiate difference, resist familial and societal disapproval, and strive for increased intimacy. The book concludes with a discussion of interracial couples in cinema and literature, the sensationalization of multiracial relations in mass media, and how to further liberalize partner selection across racial borders.

Go beyond cookie-cutter therapy and interventions to provide culturally relevant therapy that works for your clients in interracial relationships! With this book, you'll explore an array of relational issues faced by various configurations of interracial couples. Then you'll learn specific intervention strategies for treating these couples in therapy. The first section presents research and theoretical chapters on issues faced by interracial couples who are heterosexual; the second focuses on issues facing racially mixed gay and lesbian couples; and the third provides you with specific interventions to use with couples in interracial relationships. Clinical Issues with Interracial Couples: Theories and Research is an important addition to the collection of any therapist who counts an interracial couple among his or her clients. From the editors: “Although interracial couples face challenges related to differences in their racial backgrounds, couple and family theories have had little to say about how to work with these differences. Not all couples are white, married, and heterosexual, and there is a growing understanding that clinical practices based on these assumptions may not be adequate when working with interracial couples. Recognizing the diversity of our clients, the intent of this book is to contribute to more respectful and inclusive clinical practices that can address the treatment issues we face in the first decade of the twenty-first century.” The first section of this book examines challenges faced by heterosexual interracial couples, focusing on: how black/white couples experience and respond to racism and how they negotiate the racial and ethnic differences they face in their relationships the significance of race—or lack of it—in white women's relationships with black men, with suggestions on how to create a therapeutic space for discussing race without over-determining its significance marriages where one partner is of Latino/a descent and the other of non-Latino/a white descent—a pilot study of a rarely investigated population! approaches, interventions, and strategies to use when treating multicultural Muslim couples Hawaii's unusual history of interracial ties and relationships, the common challenges that face interracial couples there, and therapeutic interventions that can benefit them The second section of Clinical Issues with Interracial Couples looks at the issues faced by same-sex interracial couples. Here is a sample of what you'll find: clinical considerations for working with interracial/intercultural lesbian couples pitfalls to avoid in therapy as well as suggestions for a conceptual approach for gay Latino men in cross-cultural relationships The book's final section presents interventions for use with interracial couples. Here you'll find: assessment techniques and interventions geared toward black-white couples information on doing effective therapy with Latino/a-white couples a case study of the therapeutic process as applied to an Asian-American woman married to a white man seven therapists' perspectives on working with interracial couples—focusing on the historical context of intermarriage, specific concerns and issues that interracial couples experience in their relationships, and the experiences of therapists working with this diverse and challenging client population

Love, Intimacy, and the African American Couple lays out specific strategies that clinicians can use in their work with black couples, regardless of the clinician's own race or level of experience.

This book has been replaced by Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, Sixth Edition, edited by Jay L. Lebow and Douglas K. Snyder, ISBN 978-1-4625-5012-8.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Marriage, Family and Couples Counseling is a new, all-encompassing, landmark work for researchers seeking to broaden their knowledge of this vast and diffuse field. Marriage and family counseling programs are established at institutions worldwide, yet there is no current work focused specifically on family therapy. While other works have discussed various methodologies, cases, niche aspects of the field and some broader views of counseling in general, this authoritative Encyclopedia provides readers with a fully comprehensive and accessible reference to aid in understanding the full scope and diversity of theories, approaches, and techniques and how they address various life events within the unique dynamics of families, couples, and related interpersonal relationships. Key topics include: Assessment Communication Coping Diversity Interventions and Techniques Life Events/Transitions Sexuality Work/Life Issues, and more Key features include: More than 500 signed articles written by key figures in the field span four comprehensive volumes Front matter includes a Reader’s Guide that groups related entries thematically Back matter includes a history of the development of the field, a Resource Guide to key associations, websites, and journals, a selected Bibliography of classic publications, and a detailed Index All entries conclude with Further Readings and Cross References to related entries to aid the reader in their research journey

How can you provide effective, meaningful therapy to couples with whom you have little or nothing in common? Couples Therapy: Feminist Perspectives addresses some of the inadequacies, omissions, and assumptions in traditional couples therapy to help you face the issues of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation in helping couples today. In this book, you'll uncover perspectives that are grounded in an appreciation of cultural context, the effects of privilege, and the centrality of a respectful stance on the part of the therapist. Anyone seeking to do informed and responsive work with couples in distress will find it a useful and valuable compilation. Couples Therapy: Feminist Perspectives describes a variety of feminist approaches to couples therapy--giving you a sense of the range of feminist practice in this area and illustrating approaches you can integrate into your work with couples. Specific topics you'll explore include: cultural considerations in couples therapy narrative approaches to couples therapy dilemmas in working with heterosexual couples working with lesbian couples the particular issues of interracial couples the African-American lesbian couple empathy and mutuality in therapy with couples Whether you're an experienced psychologist, social worker, marriage and family counselor, or therapist or a student of family and couples therapy, Couples Therapy: Feminist Perspectives will help you prepare to respond effectively to a more diverse clientele.

While cross-cultural relations were once assumed to be inherently problematic, in recent years these couples have increased in both numbers and social acceptance, and there is now a growing awareness of how little we really know about them. Addressing this gap in our knowledge, this book presents 12 chapters focusing on cross-cultural couple formations (i.e., a partner from the U.S. and another from abroad). Highlighting both the struggles and successes of couples, this book challenges the principle of homogamy, helping the reader gain a deeper understanding and respect for intercultural couples. The chapters tackle a broad range of topics and issues, including systemic considerations of the phenomenon of cross-cultural couples, bilingual couples, interfaith relationships, struggles in such couple formations, different methods of approaching solutions, and the use of the internet to meet partners from diverse backgrounds.

The Routledge International Handbook of Couple and Family Therapy is a comprehensive text that promotes innovative frameworks and interventions in couple and family therapy from a cross cultural perspective. A diverse range of international contributors explore the role that demography, regionality, cultural and political crises, and policy, have on the issues faced by couples and families. Collectively, the chapters articulate unique ideas in conceptualizing the needs of families with international backgrounds, adapting the current models and frameworks to work with this population most effectively. The text is split into four sections covering: personal voices and philosophical perspectives, theory and models, specific applications with international populations, and emerging perspectives. This handbook is essential for individual practitioners, researchers, psychotherapists, and related mental health professionals, as well as academics with an interest in working with couples and families.