ABSTRACT
This paper critically examines the maxim commonly held and generally supported in the divorce therapy literature that the preferred treatment in divorce therapy is individual treatment, and will consider conjoint and family treatment as viable alternatives. This assumption will be addressed by: 1) assessing how a therapist’s theory of divorce therapy dictates the treatment unit adopted in divorce therapy, 2) reviewing individual, conjoint, and family divorce therapy research, and 3) discussing the significance of timing in divorce therapy. In conclusion, a brief argument will be presented for a model of divorce therapy which incorporates conjoint and/or family treatment as the most effective modality in the decision making and restructuring stages of divorce and individual treatment as the most appropriate in the recovery phase.
