ABSTRACT
The premise upon which the clinical approach outlined in this text rests is that the
practice of marital therapy should be guided by a coherent theory of marital be-
havior and relationship development. This theory should explain how destructive
interaction patterns and faulty relationship structures come into being and how
they are maintained over time. Intervention strategies designed to correct these
dysfunctional patterns and faulty structures should follow logically from the basic
tenets and formulations of the theory concerning how change takes place and how
change can be effected through planned therapeutic action. Instruments, mea-
sures, tests, and procedures chosen for diagnostic assessment and post-treatment
evaluation should be theory-derived and problem-focused whenever feasible.
