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Rating: 
Summary: SNOOZE material... not a great Marriage Therapy textbook
Review: First of all, anyone that successfully reads this entire book deserves a badge. (Yes, I did read it all). It's got to be one of the most boring "academic" books I have ever read. Sure, there are a few great chapters on family violence, infidelity, marital house therapy, and psychoeducation, but this book should be a last resort choice for any future marriage therapy courses. Instead, focus on a text that addresses the therapy models with significant empirical support and look for a book that includes more comprehensive discussions related to the application of the models. This book is particularly frustrating for these reasons and more: 1) The authors attempt to ensure continuity of the book's 25 uniquely authored by attempting to police a relatively precise outline structure. However, the outline encourages lengthy repetitions of material. It would certainly have helped if the authors of each chapter could prepare their own outline and a basic fact sheet to support their models. 2) The authors (like many academics) appear more interested in proving their theory is THE theory (or that they are THE premier marital therapist) than attempting to help the reader truly understand how to implement their approach. In class, we spent more time questioning unsubstantiated "truths" offered by the authors than is appropriate. 3) The editors offer no overall review of marital therapy, particularly the comparitive empirical effectiveness of the approaches to therapy with couples. Given the superiority of cognitive-behavioral approaches, it sure would be nice to spend more than one chapter dealing with the implementation of these models. Sure, if you're an academic that likes having another "Handbook" in your bookshelf, grab this one. But, if you really want to learn to do Marriage Therapy and seriously intend to read the book, I'd look elsewhere. Post your suggestions if you have any.
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