Couple and Marital Counseling

Historical Underpinnings

As a distinct professional counseling service, couple and marital counseling is relatively young. Broderick and Schrader trace the history of couple and marriage counseling in four phases: the pioneer phase, the establishment phase, the consolidation phase, and the formative stage. Prior to the pioneer phase and the couple and marriage counseling movement, marital counseling was done informally by friends, other family members, or religious leaders. Also, prior to the 1930s, the theory and practice of counselors and psychologists centered on helping the individual. As families in the United States became less centralized and more geographically expansive, extended family members and other community supports were less available, and relationship counseling became increasingly necessary.

Each of the phases listed above was marked by significant events. In the pioneer phase of the early 1930s, three professional centers for marriage counseling were established: a center in Los Angeles called the American Institute of Family Relations, a center in New York, and a center in Philadelphia called The Marriage Council. From these examples, other training, research, and service centers emerged throughout the mid-1930s to mid-1940s. However, an increased need for professional unity emerged. In 1945, professionals working with couples in a counseling relationship organized to form the American Association of Marriage Counselors (AAMC). This early association included professionals from diverse backgrounds, including clergy, physicians, social workers, and family guidance professionals. These professionals were primarily responsible for some other type of work but counseled couples as part of their primary role. This signified the emergence of the establishment phase.

To further develop the professionalism of this emerging field, standards for marriage counseling were published, and marriage counseling was established as a specialty of family counseling in 1949. Signifying the consolidation phase was the first legal recognition of the marriage counseling profession in California in 1963. In 1970 the name of the association was changed to the American Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (AAMFC), and in 1978 it changed again to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

For many years, most of the attention and focus in the field was on the family; however, over time the couple and marriage counseling movement advanced. In the 1980s, the Clinical Handbook of Marital Therapy by Jacobson and Gurman was published and contributed significantly to advancing the specialization of couple and marital counseling. The formative phase saw an increase in the number of education programs offering training specifically on counseling with couples. Additionally, the profession experienced major growth and a subsequent clarification of training standards and competencies for practice. Couple and marriage counseling is now considered a distinct approach with published research with information on the science of the relationship.

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