Dialogue Therapy is a form of psychotherapy for couples conducted by a therapist team that draws on Jungian psychology, object-relations theory, and affect theory. Dialogue, a special from of relating, requires that each partner be able to establish and sustain a point of view, and to listen and understand another’s point of view. Based upon the method developed by Dr. Polly Young-Eisendrath and Edward Epstein of Vermont, Dialogue Therapy teaches couples about deeply intimate methods of communication.
Dialogue Therapy is particularly powerful for couples who are committed, but yearn for a deeper sense of intimacy and passion in their life together. It was designed specifically for couples who want to improve and revitalize a relationship to which they are committed.
However, Dialogue Therapy will also benefit couples who are questioning their commitment, lack passion, have lost the ability to communicate, are involved in excessive arguing, feel deadness, disappointment, or alienation.
For dating couples and couples who are deciding whether to commit to one another, Dialogue Therapy can clarify the issues that might interfere with commitment, deepen each person’s knowledge about the other, promote respectful reflection about the nature of the couple and the issues the couple will have to face, and facilitate the process of becoming a committed and enduring couple.
Benefits of Dialogue Therapy can include enhanced intimacy, a greater ability to see and accept differences, increased empathy, deepened trust, and the ability to handle conflict respectfully, all of which lead to enhanced self-esteem.
Dialogue Therapy can also deepen the connection between the couple and open a process of mutual understanding and transformation.
The first meeting involves an assessment of the couple’s patterns of communication, as well as an exploration of their personal histories, both as a couple and with regard to their individual families of origin. At the end of the first session, the therapist team, Pamela Donleavy and Paul Goldmuntz, will give an evaluation of what they see as the barriers to and promises of change. Most couples feel relieved by the clarity afforded by the assessment.
In later sessions, partners are encouraged to speak and to listen respectfully to each other, to reframe what the other has said, and to learn to understand the barriers to intimacy within and between them. The therapist team assists, coaches, and assesses the couple’s interactions. Between sessions, partners are involved in assignments and reading to enhance their learning.
