Treating the Difficult Divorce ― A Practical Guide for Psychotherapists

Divorce can be an exceptional challenge for couples and children who must endure acrimony, accusations, fear and anxiety for the future. Divorce is also a substantial challenge for mental health professionals, as standard psychotherapeutic approaches can prove insufficient for the complexities of families in crisis.

This book presents a comprehensive, integrative systemic approach to treating difficult divorce. Drawing on the integrative tradition that considers both individual and systemic processes, as well as his nearly forty years of clinical practice, Dr. Lebow describes strategies for intervention that show therapists how to calm individuals, couples, and families in acute distress, and help ease the transition to a new family structure. Chapters highlight the research on divorce and mental health, describe concrete interventions that achieve realistic treatment goals, explain how therapists interact with the legal system in divorce cases, and offer adaptations for different types of divorce, including high-conflict and more normative divorces. Can be used by one or more therapists, working with couples, a parent and child, a former partner, or even a single parent or child.

Jay Lebow, PhD, ABPP, is senior scholar and senior therapist at the Family Institute at Northwestern and clinical professor of psychology at Northwestern University. For more than 30 years, he has engaged in clinical practice, supervision, and research; is board certified in couple and family psychology; and is an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy–approved supervisor. Dr. Lebow served as president of the Society of Couple and Family Psychology and has received the Society’s Family Psychologist of the Year award as well as the American Family Therapy Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.