In this mixed-methods study, we analyzed data from 351 couple therapists who completed our Therapists' Experiences Treating Infidelity (TETI) survey. The present survey is a follow-up of previous iterations that examined therapists' attitudes toward infidelity and affair recovery treatment. Our TETI survey provided additional questions pertaining to therapists' personal history with affairs and perceptions on current research and training standards. Results showed that various therapist and couple factors serve to impede affair recovery treatment. Additionally, this survey revealed several similarities in therapists' attitudes from prior surveys, despite decades having passed between when the present survey and previous versions. In this article, we (a) outline findings from this mixed-methods survey, (b) discuss implications for the field, and (c) offer directions for future research.
AmatoP. R.PrevitiD. (2003). People's reasons for divorcing: Gender, social class, the life course, and adjustment. Journal of Family Issues,24(5), 602–626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X03024005002
2.
AmatoP. R.RogersS. J. (1997). A longitudinal study of marital problems and subsequent divorce. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(3), 612–624. https://doi.org/10.2307/353949
3.
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (2015). AAMFT Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.aamft.org/Legal_Ethics/Code_of_Ethics.aspx.
4.
American Counseling Association (2014). ACA Code of ethics. Author.
5.
American Psychological Association (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/.
6.
AtkinsD. C.YiJ.BaucomD. H.ChristensenA. (2005). Infidelity in couples seeking marital therapy. Journal of Family Psychology,19(3), 470–473. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.19.3.470
7.
BarracaJ.PolanskiT. X. (2021). Infidelity treatment from an integrative behavioral couple therapy perspective: Explanatory model and intervention strategies. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 47(4), 909–924. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12483
8.
BurchB. (2007). Lesbian couples: The infidelities of women, sexual and otherwise. In PelusoP. R. (Ed.), Infidelity: A practitioner's Guide to working with couples in crisis (pp. 229–246). Routledge.
9.
CartwrightC.RhodesP.KingR.ShiresA. (2015). A pilot study of a method for teaching clinical psychology trainees to conceptualise and manage countertransference. Australian Psychologist, 50(2), 148–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12092
10.
ChowD. L.MillerS. D.SeidelJ. A.KaneR. T.ThorntonJ. A.AndrewsW. P. (2015). The role of deliberate practice in the development of highly effective psychotherapists. Psychotherapy, 52(3), 337–345. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000015
11.
CreswellJ. W.Plano-ClarkV. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.
12.
DossB. D.SimpsonL. E.ChristensenA. (2004). Why do couples seek marital therapy?Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(6), 608–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.35.6.608
13.
GarzaL. (2020). The role of gender and attitudes toward infidelity in therapists' treatment decisions for couples presenting with physical infidelity. [Doctoral dissertation, Fielding Graduate University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2385373582).
14.
General Social Survey (2017). Retrieved from https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/.
15.
GlassS. P.WrightT. L. (1992). Justifications for extramarital relationships: The association between attitudes, behaviors, and gender. Journal of Sex Research, 29(3), 361–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499209551654
16.
GottmanJ. M. (1999). The marriage clinic: A scientifically-based marital therapy. W.W. Norton & Company.
17.
GottmanJ. M. (2011). The science of trust: Emotional attunement for couples. W.W. Norton & Company.
18.
HenriksenR. (2007). Infidelity: A multicultural perspective. In PelusoP. R. (Ed.), Infidelity: A practitioner's guide to working with couples in crisis (pp. 191–206). Routledge.
19.
KesselD. E.MoonJ. H.AtkinsD. C. (2007). Research on couple therapy for infidelity: What do we know about helping couples when there has been an affair? In PelusoP. R. (Ed.), Infidelity a practitioner's guide to working with couples in crisis (pp. 55–69). Routledge.
20.
KrippendorffK. (2019). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (4th ed.). Sage.
21.
LeekerO.CarlozziA. (2014). Effects of sex, sexual orientation, infidelity expectations, and love on distress related to emotional and sexual infidelity. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 40(1), 68–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2012.00331.x
22.
MartinsA.PereiraM.AndradeR.DattilioF.NarcisoI.CanavarroM. (2016). Infidelity in dating relationships: Gender-specific correlates of face-to-face and online extradyadic involvement. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(1), 193–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0576-3
23.
MollerN. P.VosslerA. (2015). Defining infidelity in research and couple counseling: A qualitative study. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 41(5), 487–497. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2014.931314
24.
MorenoN.Kahumoku-FesslerE. P. (2018). Understanding infidelity: How perceptions of infidelity behaviors vary by sex and one's own infidelity experiences. American Journal of Family Therapy, 46(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2018.1441760
25.
PelusoP. R. (2007). Infidelity a practitioner's guide to working with couples in crisis. Routledge.
26.
PelusoP. R. (2019). A family systems guide to infidelity: Helping couples understand, recover from, and avoid future affairs. Routledge.
27.
PelusoP. R.SpinaP. (2008). Understanding infidelity: Pitfalls and lessons for couples counselors. The Family Journal, 16(4), 324–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480708323282
28.
PittmanF. S. (1989). Private lies: Infidelity and the betrayal of intimacy. Penguin Books.
29.
ScottS. B.RhoadesG. K.StanleyS. M.AllenE. S.MarkmanH. J. (2013). Reasons for divorce and recollections of premarital intervention: Implications for improving relationship education. Couple & Family Psychology, 2(2), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032025
30.
SmitheyA. R. (2015). Counselors' emotional reactions when treating couples facing infidelity: A generic qualitative inquiry. [Doctoral dissertation, Capella University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1671736541).
31.
Softas-NallB.BeadleM.NewellJ.HelmH. M. (2008). Spousal disclosure of extramarital relationships: Attitudes of marriage and family therapists. The Family Journal, 16(4), 328–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480708323203
32.
van GrootelL.Balachandran NairL.KlugkistI.van WeselF. (2020). Quantitizing findings from qualitative studies for integration in mixed methods reviewing. Research Synthesis Methods, 11(3), 413–425. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1403
33.
VosslerA.MollerN. P. (2014). The relationship past can't be the future: Couple counsellors' experiences of working with infidelity. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 29(4), 424–435. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2014.924619
34.
WhismanM. A.DixonA. E.JohnsonB. (1997). Therapists' perspectives of couple problems and treatment issues in couple therapy. Journal of Family Psychology, 11(3), 361–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.11.3.361
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
