2010-2011 Academic Catalog

May 12, 2024

2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PSYC 374 - Couples Therapy Practicum

Type of Course: Graduate Seminar

Students in this practicum will learn how to assess and treat the full spectrum of mildly to severely distressed couples. The treatment approach emphasizes fostering intimacy, closeness and mutual acceptance, while at the same time teaching useful communication and problem-solving skills. We will be treating both married and unmarried couples as long as they are currently living together and are not violent. Depending on the number of students in the practicum, students will either treat couples as part of a two-person team or as the sole therapist. Class time will be devoted to group supervision, discussions of the broader issues of couple therapy and a weekly journal club. Students should expect to see between two and three couples over the course of the one-year practicum, with each course of therapy being approximately 20 to 25 sessions. Students in the practicum will learn about the correlates and predictors of marital distress, how to assess a couple’s level of distress and commitment, how to formulate and test therapeutic hypotheses over the course of treatment, and how to conduct a very powerful and effective approach to couple therapy. Students should expect to be proficient and capable of proceeding quite independently by the end of this one year practicum.

Instructor: Mr. Cordova

When Offered: Offered periodically

Faculty: James Córdova, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology