ABSTRACT
Each of the contributors to this volume has presented a perspective on emotion in intimate relationships, as well as a view of how emotion is linked to the development of marital distress, to positive adjustment, and to change processes in marital therapy. In this chapter, we will summarize and synthesize the major themes that have emerged in the previous chapters. We review them in reverse order: behavioral approaches, followed by the systemic, then the more humanistic experiential approaches, and finally the more dynamic perspectives. Two broad questions serve to organize this review: (1) What is the most useful way to conceptualize affect in intimate relationships, and what is the role of affect in the generation of problematic interactions in these relationships? and (2) How can affective experience and expression be modified in therapy, and how can affect then be used to facilitate positive change in distressed relationships?
