Let’s Explore Your Goals

This is a perfect goal for IBCT. Treatment begins by helping you and your partner understand factors that make you feel less satisfied with your relationship. Then you’ll develop goals specific to your relationship that will guide treatment. During treatment, you and your partner will work to develop understanding and skills to improve different aspects of your relationship so you feel more satisfied. Research shows that couples that participate in IBCT usually report being more satisfied with their relationships.

Great! A key aspect of IBCT is helping partners come to understand each other in a deeper way, which leads to more closeness and greater acceptance of each other. Treatment often also focuses on how to bring the good back into relationships to increase emotional connection.

This is an excellent goal for IBCT. In fact, IBCT is based on addressing underlying factors that lead to couple distress. The first four sessions of treatment are spent developing a summary of how each partner’s personality, life experiences, current stressors, and patterns of interaction affect the relationship and problems partners experience. This summary is then shared with the couple. Many couples report that it is eye opening and quite helpful to see their relationship in this new light.

This is a common goal of couples who seek treatment. An important focus of IBCT is on helping partners to better understand each other and to change patterns of interactions that lead to arguments. Treatment may also include helping couples develop proven communication and problem-solving skills for addressing problems that arise. Research shows that IBCT is effective in improving communication in relationships.

This is at the heart of IBCT. A key goal of the treatment is to help partners develop a better—and deeper—understanding of each other. This new understanding often leads to greater acceptance and kindness.

This is a very appropriate goal for IBCT. The premise of this treatment is that when partners come to understand and accept each other’s differences, instead of constantly trying to change each other, relationships often improve. During the first part of treatment, you and your partner will focus on developing a deeper understanding of each other and your differences that will set a foundation for treatment.

IBCT helps couples understand their patterns of interaction and to develop new ways of relating to each other, which often improves communication. During treatment, the therapist guides couples to speak “more from the heart” and to listen well to what each partner is communicating. Treatment sometimes also includes in-session practice exercises to help put new skills into action.

Many couples find the improved interactions and communication they experience in IBCT helps them to better solve problems together. In addition, some couples choose to also focus on specific training in effective problem-solving strategies in treatment.

Many couples get stuck in a rut constantly nagging or blaming each other. IBCT takes a different approach to resolving problems or differences. Rather than trying to change each other, IBCT focuses on helping partners better understand and accept each other, which often leads to reduced criticism and greater connection.

This is an important treatment goal for most couples. IBCT works to improve core issues that drive couples apart using several proven steps and strategies. First, partners develop deeper understanding and acceptance of each other, which usually improves how they feel about and relate to one other. They also learn to focus more on the good in each other and the relationship, instead of focusing on the negative. Treatment may also include training in specific communication and other skills that for improving how partners relate to each other and address daily challenges.