Equal Partners - Good Friends

Marriage as an equal partnership is the goal of amny couples in the western world today and yet equality is often limited by the ways that power and gender interact in the relationship, leading to dissatisfaction and ultimately the break up of the marriage. In Equal PArtners - Good Friends Claire Rabin examines the connection between inequality in marriage and marital distress. Drawing on extensive research and personal interviews in the UK, USA and Israel, she stresses the role of friendship in establishing a truly equal relationship. Focusing on issues of gender, sex roles and power, she provides a new clinical treatment model for therapists working with couples which is much needed in today's climate of change.

Claire Rabin, D.S.W. is a teacher and supervisor of family and couples therapy at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University and a therapist in private practice

Introduction: a change in perspective 1 Gender, power and contemporary relationship tension 2 The egalitarian alternative. What is it? Is it worth the effort? 3 Friendship: the basic condition of equal partnership 4 Shared power: the road to mutual empowerment 5 Towards an integrative model of treatment goals for couples 6 Assessment 7 Types of couples seeking therapy 8 Creating an egalitarian therapeutic system Analyzing therapist-couple interactions as an assessment tool 9 The treatment model: individual interventions and education about equality 10 Couple interventions 11 Treatment of the traditional couple: putting the wife in charge 192 12 Treatment of the transitional couple: overt and covert power struggles 13 Issues in training and supervision