ABSTRACT
Some sessions present specific types of challenges that require careful and thoughtful guidance from you as the therapist. It is important to know what these challenges are and to be ready to handle them in the session. The goals of focusing more on one partner might include looking at the impact of that person's issues on the relationship, handling that person's emotions, answering that person's questions, and/or dealing with that partner's resistance. Zilbergeld (1995) describes a case of working with a couple where there was a critical and demanding partner. Addison and Thomas (2010) describe a couples session in which the therapist takes on the husband in the couple about his overtly sexist remarks during the session. Addison directly confronts the husband describing how his saying that women are like bitches is offensive to her, the therapist. She then uses this to process the couple's conflicts. It is a risky strategy that Addison uses skillfully.
