Description

In this workshop, Christensen will provide the theoretical background for IBCT, showing in particular how IBCT differs from Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy (CBCT) and from Emotion Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT).  After the theoretical background, Christensen will review the assessment of couples in IBCT, and will then describe the subsequent feedback session, in which the IBCT therapist shares with the couple his/her conceptualization of their difficulties and outlines the goals and strategies of treatment.  Then Christensen will describe the active treatment phase of IBCT including its treatment strategies, especially its strategies for promoting emotional acceptance (empathic joining around the problem, unified detachment from the problem, and tolerance interventions), followed by the IBCT termination phase, which often involves the tapering down of treatment sessions.  Christensen will illustrate assessment and treatment strategies through videotaped examples from couples in IBCT.  He will provide opportunities to role play assessment and treatment strategies. Finally, Christensen will discuss the empirical support for IBCT and new directions in IBCT.

You will learn how to describe

1. One way in which IBCT differs from Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy and Emotion Focused Cognitive Therapy.
2. One aspect of the assessment phase of IBCT.
3. One aspect of the active treatment phase of IBCT.
4. One example of the empirical support for IBCT. 
   
   

Key References

Atkins, D. C., Berns, S. B., George, W., Doss, B., Gattis, K., & Christensen, A. (2005).  Prediction of response to treatment in a randomized clinical trial of marital therapy.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 893-903.

Atkins, D. C., Dimidjian, S., Bedics, J. D., & Christensen, A. (2009).  Couple discord and depression in couples during couple therapy and in depressed individuals during depression treatment.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77,1089–1099.

Atkins, D. C., Eldridge, K., Baucom, D. H., & Christensen, A. (2005).  Infidelity and behavioral couple therapy:  Optimism in the face of betrayal.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 144-150.

Baucom, B. R., Atkins, D. C., Simpson, L. E., & Christensen, A. (2009).  Prediction of response to treatment in a randomized clinical trial of couple therapy:  A 2-year follow-up.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 160-173.

Baucom, B. R., Atkins, D. C., Simpson, L. E., & Christensen, A. (2015).  Prediction of treatment response at 5-year Follow-up in a Randomized Clinical Trial of Behaviorally Based Couple Therapies.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83,103-14.

Baucom, B. R., Sheng, E., Christensen, A., Georgiou, P. G., Narayanan, S. S., & Atkins, D. C. (2015).  Behaviorally-based couple therapies reduce emotional arousal during couple conflict. Behavior Research and Therapy, 72, 49-55.

Baucom, K. J. W., Baucom, B. R., & Christensen, A. (2015).  Changes in dyadic communication during & after integrative and traditional behavioral couple therapy.  Behavior Research and Therapy, 65, 18-28.

Baucom, K. J. W., Sevier, M., Eldridge, K. A., Doss, B. D., & Christensen, A. (2011).  Observed communication in couples 2 years after integrative and traditional behavioral couple therapy: Outcome and link with 5-year follow-up.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79, 565-576.

Christensen, A.  (2010).  A unified protocol for couple therapy.  In K. Hahlweg, M. Grawe-Gerber, & D. H. Baucom (Eds.).  Enhancing couples: The shape of couple therapy to come (pp 33-46). Göttingen: Hogrefe.

Benson, L. A., Sevier, M., & Christensen, A.  (2013). The impact of behavioral couple therapy on attachment in distressed couples. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39, 407-420.

Christensen, A., Atkins, D. S., Berns, S., Wheeler, J., Baucom, D. H. & Simpson, L. E. (2004).   Traditional versus Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy for Significantly and Chronically Distressed Married Couples, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 176–191.

Christensen, A., Atkins, D. C., Yi, J., Baucom, D. H., & George, W. H. (2006).   Couple and individual adjustment for two years following a randomized clinical trial comparing traditional versus integrative behavioral couple therapy.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 1180–1191.

Christensen, A., Atkins, D. C., Baucom, B., & Yi, J.  (2010).  Marital Status and Satisfaction Five Years Following a Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Traditional Versus Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 225-235.

Cordova, J. V., Jacobson, N. S., & Christensen, A.  (1998). Acceptance versus change interventions in behavioral couple therapy:  Impact on couples’ in-session communication. Journal of Marriage & Family Counseling, 24, 437-455.

Doss, B. D., Benson, L. A., Georgia, E. J., & Christensen, A. (2013).  Translation of Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy to a web-based intervention.  Family Process, 52, 139-152.

Doss, B. D., Cicila, L. N., Georgia, E. J., Roddy, M. K., Nowlan, K. M., Benson, L. A., & Christensen, A. (2016).    A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Web-Based OurRelationship Program: Effects on Relationship and Individual Functioning.  Journal or Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84, 285-296.

Doss, B. D., Thum, Y. M., Sevier, M., Atkins, D. C., & Christensen, A.  (2005). Improving relationships: Mechanisms of change in couple therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 624-633.

Gattis, K. S., Simpson, L. E., & Christensen, A.  (2008).  What about the kids?:  Parenting and child

adjustment in the context of couple therapy.  Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 833-842.

Jacobson, N. S., Christensen, A., Prince, S. E., Cordova, J., & Eldridge, K.  (2000). Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy: An acceptance-based, promising new treatment for couple discord.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(2). 351-355.

Marín, R. A., Christensen, A., & Atkins, D. C. (2014).  Infidelity and behavioral couple therapy: Relationship outcomes over 5 years following therapy. Couple and Family Psychology:  Research and Practice, 3, 1-12.

Sevier, M., Atkins, D. H., Doss, B. D., & Christensen, A. (2015).  Up and down or down and up? The process of change in constructive couple behavior during traditional and integrative behavioral couple therapy.  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41, 113–127.

Sevier, M., Eldridge, K., Jones, J., Doss, B., & Christensen, A.  (2008).  Observed communication and associations with satisfaction during traditional and integrative behavioral couple therapy.  Behavior Therapy, 39, 137-150.

Simpson, L.E., Doss, B.D., Wheeler, J., & Christensen, A. (2007).  Relationship violence among couples seeking therapy: Common couple violence or battering?  Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33, 270-283.

Simpson, L. E., Atkins, D. C., Gattis, K. S., & Christensen, A. (2008).  Low-level relationship aggression and couple therapy outcomes.  Journal of Family Psychology, 22,102-111.

Wimberly, J. D. (1998). An outcome study of integrative couples therapy delivered in a group format [Doctoral dissertation, University of Montana, 1997]. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 58(12), 6832B.

Workshop Leader

Andrew Christensen is Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and did his internship at Rutgers University Medical School.  He studies couple conflict and couple therapy and has published over 150 professional articles, primarily on these topics.  He is co-author of the influential scholarly book, Close Relationships (Freeman, 1983, reprinted in 2002).  For therapists, he authored Acceptance and Change in Couple Therapy:  A therapist’s guide for transforming relationships (1998, Norton) with Neil S. Jacobson. He also completed a trade book for couples, Reconcilable Differences (2000, 2014, Guilford) with Jacobson and Doss.  Both books describe their therapeutic approach, Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT; http://ibct.psych.ucla.edu/).  With support from the National Institute of Mental Health, Christensen and Jacobson conducted the largest clinical trial ever done evaluating the impact of couple therapy, including the couple therapy they developed, IBCT.  In 2010, IBCT was adopted by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs as one of their evidence-based treatments, and Christensen has been working with the VA since then to train therapists in this approach.  With his former graduate student Dr. Brian Doss at the University of Miami and with support from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, he has developed an online, internet based therapy approach for couples based on IBCT (www.ourrelationship.com).  Doss, Christensen, and their students recently published the results of a nationwide clinical trial on this online program, showing that it significantly boosted the relationship satisfaction and individual functioning for couples who were distressed (Doss et al., 2016).  Doss recently received a major 5-year grant to adapt this program for low-income couples and conduct another nationwide clinical trial.  Christensen is a consultant on this project, assisting with this adaptation and the subsequent clinical trial. Christensen has done workshops on IBCT in the United States, Canada, Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), Asia (Hong Kong), and South America (Brazil, Colombia, and Peru).  Christensen’s therapy and research have been cited in the Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, USA Today, and other magazines and newspapers.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife of 30 years, Louise Macbeth, also a clinical psychologist.  They have two grown children.

Cost, Refund, & Cancellation Policy

Onsite registration is available, if space available. Check-in begins at 9:30 am.

A box lunch will be provided (included in the price).

There will be an hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks on each day.

IMPORTANT -- To be eligible for a refund, the San Francisco Bay Area Center of Cognitive Therapy must receive notice of cancellation 14 days prior to the date of the workshop. Cancellations are subject to a $35.00 processing fee per workshop.

Continuing Education (CE) Credit

The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy is approved to offer 6 hours of continuing education. No partial CE units granted. 

Those who attend this workshop in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive continuing education (CE) credits. Please note that the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy will issue credit only to those who attend the entire workshop. Those who arrive more than 15 minutes after the start time or leave before the workshop ends will not receive CE credit.

The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (Provider Approval No.: CEN034) is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (Provider Approval No.: PCE288) is approved by California Board of Behavioral Sciences to provide continuing professional education for Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Clinical Social Workers. The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
 

Disclosure Information

The California Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association require that continuing education providers inform participants as to the source, amount, nature, and disposition of any funding used to support the continuing education activity, whether in the form of educational grants, cash contributions, or in-kind contributions. Individuals in a position to influence course content must also disclose whether they have one or more relevant financial relationships with individuals and companies who have a financial interest in activity content. These individuals include the CE Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (SFBACCT) and the Steering Committee of the Northern California Cognitive Behavior Therapy Network (NCCBTN).
 

Institutional Conflict of Interest Disclosure

The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy does not receive commercial support for any of the continuing education activities it provides.

Individual Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Joan Davidson, Ph.D., SFBACCT CE Advisory Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Janie J. Hong, Ph.D., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Lynn Martin, N.P., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Jacqueline B. Persons, Ph.D., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Daniela J. Owen, Ph.D., SFBACCT CE Advisory Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Sharon Smith, M.F.T., M.S.W., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Michael A. Tompkins, Ph.D., SFBACCT CE Advisory Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Melinda White, M.F.T., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Robin Yeganeh, Ph.D., NCCBTN Steering Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

 
Speaker Conflict of Interest Disclosure:

Andrew Christensen PhD, Workshop Leader, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.

Questions: Contact Lynn Martin martincbt@comcast.net or Melinda White: adhdtreatment@mindspring.com