ABSTRACT
This chapter presents both the research support for and the clinical application of Behavioral Couple Therapy (BCT). Research and clinical work on BCT gained momentum at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, as several books were published that described behavioral approaches to couple therapy. BCT is a behavioral therapy and, as such, was developed from the basic principles of learning and conditioning. Behavioral research has also demonstrated that reinforcers are not static. The behavioral theory of relationships is quite simple, in that it rests on the functional analysis; however, the simplicity of the theory does not translate into “easy” therapy. The traditional approach to BCT contends that in most instances, it is simply too difficult to conduct functional analyses of problematic partner behavior. Integrative behavioral couple therapy is an extensive revision of traditional behavioral couple therapy that has received empirical support.
