The Joint Interview in Marriage Counseling

Abstract

PROFESSIONAL people are constantly endeavoring to increase their skills and resources. Just as doctors have acquired many new drugs, tools and skills for treating patients medically, so the marriage counselor is interested in improving his techniques for doing a more effective job. One technique which seems to give considerable promise is that of the joint interview between husband and wife, or with an unmarried couple. Such a conference, some circumstances, may make a real contribution, while if misused, may cause damage and involve many dangers. Certainly, is a technique which should be used only by a skilled marriage counselor, as is fraught with psychological dynamite. The joint interview comes to the fore as a counseling resource particularly when the point of view is taken, as Dr. Laidlaw suggests, that it is the marriage which is the patient rather than either partner to that marriage.1 Talking to a husband and wife individually is probably the most effective way to help the marriage, and yet, seeing them together part of the time and having them reacting as a unit provides a first-hand opportunity of seeing the marriage as a whole, thus having the marriage as the patient. Dr. Mudd states that under such conditions a man and woman may, for the first time, see each other with objectivity, because of the protecting presence of the counselor.2 In this article, we shall present brief materials regarding three cases which have been handled at the Bureau of Student Counsel at the University of Utah, in which joint interviews have been utilized as a part of the counseling proc-