Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy

It has been seen while interacting with couples who do not get along well that there are always two sides to the same story. The perception of the two partners may vary significantly on the same issue. 

With the help of integrative behavioral couple therapy any conflicting couple can develop a much better understanding as far as their individual emotions are concerned. Pacific Beach Health is also an organization that provides help and solution to couples who may not be getting along too well.

IBCT (Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy) assumes that any relationship problems may not cause due to just any severe actions or inactions, but can also happen due to their emotional reaction to those behaviors. 

So, IBCT tries to focus on the emotional background between the partners and try to achieve a better intimacy and acceptance between partners and also make deliberate changes to their targeted problems. 

When acceptance will come first, it will pave the way for any change. When both partners will experience greater recognition from each other, then their resistance to change will often dissolve. 

In such a situation, they may incline to be more ready to adopt each other and also accommodate in their ways and that can reduce any conflict between them. In such a situation, they will be able to clearly communicate and negotiate and problems between them will resolve more effectively, as they are no longer now adversaries.

IBCT is considered a new therapy as there are acceptance techniques that will be quite useful for helping couples who are not on very good terms with each other. In other words, this will allow them to work via their differences and finally, they do not end up becoming the source of chronic conflict. 

As per experts, the IBCT can accomplish the following:

1. Empathic union

The basic aim is to make an attempt to reduce the negative behavior of the couple. To achieve this, the therapist will ask the couples to express the amount of pain that particular behavior can cause to them without making any accusations or blaming anyone. 

To get one party to fully realize how all their actions can affect their other partner is the basic objective of the strategy of an empathic union.

2. Unified detachment

The main objective of this is for both the couple to recognize the interactions that created their individual frustrations. The basic goal will be to help both partners to see their problems and issues from a certain different perspective. 

The therapist will thoroughly analyze in this strategy, what will reinforce behavior that can create problems. For doing this, the therapist will encourage the couple to speak about these issues so that they see them as spectators.

3. Tolerance

With this technique, the therapist will resort to if the last two don’t work. Here the therapist will help the couple to expand their level of tolerance. This is not about returning back to their ‘idealization’ stage when they had first fallen in love. Rather, it will encourage the couple to try to be fair and recognize the quality of others.

IBCT considers that we all emotionally react to our partners’ different behaviors. So they aim to improve intimacy, trust, and complicity in their relationship.