Improving Your Relationship through Effective Couple Therapy Model
It is common for couples to have ups and downs in their relationship. Most of the time, they will find solutions to their differences without involving any third parties.
However, there are certain instances when the differences threaten the core foundation of the relationship and it becomes necessary to involve a third party to help arrive at an agreeable solution.
This is typically accomplished through couples therapy where the couple meets a relationship counselor for sessions aimed at resolving the differences.
Relationship experts have a myriad of methodologies for helping couples in need of therapy, and the method adopted will always be contingent upon the prevailing situation presented by the couples
One such methodology is the Needs ABC Model developed by Tom Caplan, licensed social worker (OTSTCFQ) and psychotherapist (OPQ).
Discover below how this model can be used to improve your relationship as a couple.
Definition of the Needs ABC Model
The Needs ABC Model (Needs Acquisition and Behavioral Change Model) pertaining to couple therapy relies on an integrated therapeutic approach that blends observation as well as elucidation of client process to determine the needs that occasion the projected behavior.
As such, the model’s emphasis is on the relational needs that may be fueling the maladaptive behaviors that the other partner finds disagreeable.
Since its focus isn’t on behavior itself, but rather the emotion-focused relational needs behind maladaptive behaviors, the Needs ABC Model allows for great flexibility regarding its application to clients in a variety of therapeutic and personal settings.
As far as providing couple therapy is concerned, the model is based on a unique approach that makes it easy for couples to better understand the roots of their behavior.
How Is the Needs ABC Model Different From Other Models?
In the development of the Needs ABC Model, Tom drew from the wisdom and experiences of many reputable therapists and their own models. This model, however, differs from the rest due to its emphasis on the relational needs responsible for triggering maladaptive behaviors.
Unlike other models you are likely to encounter in couple therapy sessions, the Needs ABC Model never focuses on the behavior displayed.
It is a completely unique approach that has helped clients gain greater insight into the origins of their problematic behaviors, and how they relate to their current struggles, before formulating solutions that will directly address the issues at their very root.
According to this model, once an emotional need has been identified, it then becomes possible to formulate how this need can be readily met using the most applicable methodologies. Once this is accomplished, the resultant behavior will begin to automatically diminish.
The Basics of the Needs ABC Model
When couples are distressed and recognize the need to consult a couple therapist in Montreal, the last thing they want is to place themselves in an awkward environment.
The Needs ABC Model aims to create an aura of trust and an environment that will provide a sufficient and supportive framework capable of providing emotional assurance and safety to the couples seeking help.
It aims to create and maintain a consistent atmosphere from the point of initial contact (usually a phone call or email), through the screening and treatment process, and finally to the termination of the treatment.
A Needs ABC therapist will always strive to create a positive working relationship with the acknowledgment that there will be different levels of client comfort throughout the therapeutic treatment.
Typically, the discomfort that clients experience whenever a relational need is unsatisfied is what guides the therapist to devise the most beneficial strategy for relieving this feeling.
As such, the therapist will try to impress upon the client the importance of clearly understanding what their relationship may lack so that they can easily embrace new strategies to better address their relational needs.
Furthermore, when therapy sessions focus on neglected needs, the potential for defensive behavior during the counseling session will be greatly reduced.
Client’s Role in the Needs ABC Model for Couple Therapy
It should be understood that just like any other couple counseling method, the chief task of the therapist using the Needs ABC Model is to gently guide the couple in the choice-making process and to support and validate any positive steps that they make. It is, however, incumbent upon the clients to consider the proposed new problem-solving strategies during the therapeutic process.
One of the challenges faced by clinicians and therapists during such treatments is the anxiety that clients experience when they are prompted to consider the necessary changes required for solving the problems that inspired them to visit a couple therapist in Montreal. Anxiety may mount if the therapist considers the couple resilient or difficult to deal with.
One way to cope with this anxiety is for the therapist to assure the couple that they made the right decision to seek help. This is vital because if the couple finds the process too difficult, or worries that the proposed solutions will rush them into confronting their problems, they may become more apprehensive, lose focus, and ultimately abandon the therapy sessions. The therapist must therefore strive to help the couple become more resilient.
To accomplish this according to the Needs ABC Model, the therapist must ensure that the clients feel as though they are the ones in control of the treatment process. The model is a strong proponent of a client-paced work approach, where the work is accomplished at the client’s pace, and not the therapist’s.
Conclusion
The Needs ABC model has become one of the most reliable, effective, and successful models for providing lasting solutions to those in need of couple therapy in Montreal.
Conducted at the client’s pace, and not the therapist’s, it focuses on the emotional needs behind maladaptive behaviors.
Get in touch today to learn more, and benefit from the expertise of Tom Caplan, certified marriage and family therapist.
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