Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy

Historical Roots

As the title implies, CBCT places strong emphasis on how partners in a relationship behave, along with their cognitions or thoughts about their own and the other person's behavior. It has its historical roots in Social Learning Theory, which emphasizes that people learn to behave in a social or interpersonal environment such as from parents and family, friends, and society at large. For example, most children observe their parents demonstrate how to treat (or not treat) a partner. Likewise, individuals are rewarded or reinforced for behaving in certain ways in romantic relationships, such as receiving a smile from a partner after taking care of chores. Similarly, a romantic partner might be punished or ignored for forgetting the other person's birthday. In essence, people learn how to behave in both adaptive and mal-adaptive ways in committed relationships.

In addition, individuals give meaning to their own behavior and their partner's behavior within intimate relationships. For example, forgetting a partner's birthday might be devastating if it is interpreted to mean, “You don't love me.” Some people's interpretations of relationship events seem reasonable and adaptive, yet others think about relationship events in distorted or maladaptive ways. Thus, an individual who concludes, “You purposely fell off the high ladder because you don't want go to the party with me,” probably is interpreting the partner's behavior in a distorted way.

CBCT was developed in the 1960s based on these scientific principles of relationship functioning, emphasizing each partner's behavior toward the other, along with thoughts or cognitions about those behaviors. In addition, strong emphasis is placed on emotions, recognizing that a major source of satisfaction and distress is how partners feel about each other emotionally.

Treatment Strategies

Based upon the above principles, CBCT has evolved as a couple therapy approach that targets partners' behaviors, cognitions, and emotions with a primary emphasis on the current relationship, in contrast to other therapies that place an emphasis on the partners' childhood or early development. When targeting behaviors, CBCT often includes a focus on teaching couples how to communicate effectively because communication is one of the strongest predictors of relationship satisfaction long term. In addition, behavioral interventions include an emphasis on noncommunication behavior such as how to demonstrate small, caring, loving acts toward the other person, along with minimizing destructive behavior such as criticizing the other partner. CBCT also emphasizes that couples must incorporate these new ways of relating outside of the therapy session; therefore, couples frequently are asked to practice what they have learned during the session in their day-to-day lives.

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