Equal Partners - Good Friends

Examines the connection between inequality in marriage and marital distress. Drawing on extensive research the book stresses the role of friendship in establishing a truly equal relationship

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