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WHEN COUPLE THERAPY HAS STARTED BUT AN AFFAIR IS CONTINUING: KEY CLINICAL MOMENTS, CURATIVE FACTORS AND LUCKY BREAKS IN A SELF PSYCHOLOGICAL COUPLE THERAPY AND ITS CONTEXT
In a previous paper on the application of contemporary self psychology to the treatment of couples dealing with infidelity, I decried the chances of repairing and rebuilding the original relationship if one of the partners was still involved with or in love with an extramarital partner. Yet no sooner was that paper published when a couple who met this description began treatment with me and successfully rebuilt their relationship, somewhat to the surprise of all of us, I think. After a brief review of relevant theoretical concepts, the present paper details the case and speculates on the critical clinical moments and important extra-analytic factors that contributed to its positive outcome – including luck, an influence on treatment outcome not often discussed in the literature. Inclusion of the extra-analytic factors highlights the importance of situating treatments in their overall context when presenting them.
Abstract as published by the authors. Sanatio indexes the published record and links to the source.
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