ABSTRACT
The concept of resistance is increasingly enigmatic in the fields of behavioral marital and family therapy. Resistance has only recently been discussed by behaviorally oriented relationship therapists (e.g., Barton & Alexander, 1981; Birchler & Spinks, 1980; Jacobson & Margolin, 1979; Weiss, 1979). It is still hotly debated as to whether (1) resistance is an inevitable and central phenomenon that provides the major grist for the mill in the therapeutic process (as psychoanalytic and family systems theorists would suggest); (2) resistance is an occasional phenomenon to be ignored or dealt with in order to return to the basic objectives of treatment (as most cognitive-behavioral and behavioral-systems therapists would suggest); or (3) almost in its entirety, what is called “resistance” is therapist- and therapy-generated rather than client- or couple-generated (as hardline behaviorists would suggest).
