The pursuer-distancer relationship style may cause severe marital discord and even divorce. This article helps counselors practicing marital therapy to become more familiar with this particular troublesome style and offers several treatment techniques to alleviate it. Of major importance is the discussion and demonstration of the relationship between the concepts of parentification and childlike behavior and the pursuer and the distancer; respectively. An integrative, multilevel model of marital therapy is used as a framework for these purposes. Several case examples are presented as well.
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