Peace, War, and Mental Health

Discover how issues of world war and peace relate to the dynamics of couples therapy in this thought-provoking book. In Peace, War, and Mental Health, couples therapists provide diverse views on the links between strengthening marriages and preventing and solving international disputes. Although the contributors vary in their approaches to this issue, a common theme is the belief that couples as well as countries need to build bridges, not walls, for healthy relationships and they need to strive to learn what others are really feeling, thinking, or needing underneath the defenses others exhibit.The contributing therapists in Peace, War, and Mental Health explore the various links between couples in conflict and nations at war. Chapters describe how prevention strategies used for couples in therapy may be applied to the well-being of the world as a whole and how significant change is possible through the involvement of only a small percentage of the population. Other chapters focus on specific tools for couples therapy such as outlines of the major tasks of relationship building and traps that mitigate against good relationship construction, a description of the nuts and bolts of conflict resolution, and the use of flashcards to help both members of the pair present his or her real feelings to the other. Some of the intriguing topics covered in this book include: - the relationship between psychotherapy and spirituality and the paradox of individuals longing to belong since each is a part of the whole - the role of gender on war and its potential impact on peace - the failure of the humanistic movement - societal attitudes linking domestic violence and large scale violence - how the potential for resolution of differences in couples can be applied to peace among nations - how prevention may be expanded to include the "mental health" of the whole world--Part V of an interview with Virginia SatirPeace, War, and Mental Health helps therapists look at international peace and couples therapy with new perspectives, a necessity in today's rapidly changing family and world climate.

Barbara Jo Brothers

Contents Make Love, Not War--Or at Least Make Meaning - Prevention: Changing Our Whole Culture--An Interview With Virginia Satir: Part V - Men/Women, War/Peace: A Systems Approach - Metanoia: A Great Change of Heart - We Have Failed - There Is But One Love We Share - Response to Margaret Kirschner's Article: "There Is But One Love We Share" - Blood and Oil - Mirror of Madness - Making Meaning: Living in a Both/And World - Dilemmas of Difference: Differentiating Couples Therapy Issues for Intervention, Negotiation, Separation or Celebration - "Talk to Me Like I'm Someone You Love" Conflict Intervention for Real Life - The Tasks and Traps of Relationships - Response to Lawrence Maltin and Joan D. Atwood's Article: "The Tasks and Traps of Relationships" - Couples Therapy From a Systems Perspective - Comment-Response to "Couples Therapy From a Systems Perspective" - "Interbe": Comment on Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls - Family and Couples Therapy in a Time of War - Reference Notes Included