Developmental Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma Survivors: A detailed case study of a manualized, time-limited, psychoanalytically informed treatment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many couples in distress encounter significant barriers to accessing psychoanalytic treatments, which leaves psychoanalysis far out of the reach of many of those who would benefit from its rich and deep clinical processes. This paper will briefly outline Developmental Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma (DCTCT). DCTCT is a manualized, evidence-based, time-limited therapy built upon the psychoanalytic foundations of attachment, emotion regulation, mentalizing, and repetition-enactment. This four-stage model integrates psychoeducation about psychoanalytic concepts such as attachment, emotion regulation, and mentalizing, to help couples learn about these developmental self-capacities prior to a second stage of explicit skills building, a third stage of deeper analytic working through of traumatic memories, challenges with sexuality, and developing attachment security prior to a fourth stage of consolidation. The case of Cheryl and Cat will illustrate the process of DCTCT and show some of the advantages specific to couple therapy.