Gerald R. Weeks

This new edition of A Clinician's Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy integrates the latest empirical research from the field of sex therapy and demonstrates how clinicians can optimize their treatment for a wide range of clients. Grounded in the Intersystem Approach, the book incorporates the multifaceted perspectives of the individual client, couple, or family. It considers every domain of assessment and treatment: biology, psychology, the intimate relationship, family-of-origin, and larger contextual factors contributing to any sexual/relational issue. This revised edition contains 13 chapters consistent with the DSM-5 definitions of sexual disorders and features new content on areas including LGBTQ+ issues, non-monogamous relationships, intersex clients, and an increased focus on issues surrounding sexual diversity. The authors of this award-winning text have set out a cutting-edge framework for clinicians looking to develop a comprehensive understanding of sexual issues, which will be an essential reference point for beginning and seasoned therapists alike.The 2nd edition of A Clinician's Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy won the AASECT Book Award and Best Integrative Approach to Sex Therapy Award, 2017

This new edition of A Clinician's Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy integrates the latest empirical research from the field of sex therapy and demonstrates how clinicians can optimize their treatment for a wide range of clients. Grounded in the Intersystem Approach, the book incorporates the multifaceted perspectives of the individual client, couple, or family. It considers every domain of assessment and treatment: biology, psychology, the intimate relationship, family-of-origin, and larger contextual factors contributing to any sexual/relational issue. This revised edition contains 13 chapters consistent with the DSM-5 definitions of sexual disorders and features new content on areas including LGBTQ+ issues, non-monogamous relationships, intersex clients, and an increased focus on issues surrounding sexual diversity. The authors of this award-winning text have set out a cutting-edge framework for clinicians looking to develop a comprehensive understanding of sexual issues, which will be an essential reference point for beginning and seasoned therapists alike.The 2nd edition of A Clinician's Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy won the AASECT Book Award and Best Integrative Approach to Sex Therapy Award, 2017

Focused Genograms provides a cutting-edge guide to utilizing the Intersystem Approach meta-framework and attachment theory to construct focused genograms. Focused genograms are graphic representations of intergenerational family interactions, and can be tailored to themes. This new volume includes nearly two decades of research, clinical experience, and theory; including rapidly expanding empirical support of attachment theory, gender, and trauma theory. It will allow the reader to comprehensively develop assessment and treatment planning for a wide range of client-systems. The clinical approach to using Focused Genograms traces intergenerational patterns of attachment and helps the therapist create an attachment-focused bond with client-systems of all types.

Focused Genograms provides a cutting-edge guide to utilizing the Intersystem Approach meta-framework and attachment theory to construct focused genograms. Focused genograms are graphic representations of intergenerational family interactions, and can be tailored to themes. This new volume includes nearly two decades of research, clinical experience, and theory; including rapidly expanding empirical support of attachment theory, gender, and trauma theory. It will allow the reader to comprehensively develop assessment and treatment planning for a wide range of client-systems. The clinical approach to using Focused Genograms traces intergenerational patterns of attachment and helps the therapist create an attachment-focused bond with client-systems of all types.

The second edition of A Clinician’s Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy has been completely revised, updated, and expanded. This volume is written for beginning psychotherapy practitioners in order to guide them through the complexities of sex therapy and help them to be more efficient in their treatment. The authors offer a unique theoretical approach to understanding and treating sexual problems from a systemic perspective, incorporating the multifaceted perspectives of the individual client, the couple, the family, and the other contextual factors.Both beginning and experienced sex/relationship therapists will broaden their perspectives with the Intersystem approach and gain information rarely seen in sex therapy texts such as: how to thoroughly assess each sexual disorder, the implementation of various treatment principles and techniques, how to incorporate homework, dealing with ethical dilemmas, understanding different expressions of sexual behavior, and addressing the impact of medical problems on sexuality. Aside from bringing the diagnostic criteria up-to-date with the DSM 5, this new edition contains a new chapter on sensate focus, an expanded section on assessment, more information about development across the lifespan, and more focus on diversity issues throughout the text.

First published in 1996. This books presents a problem-solving model of marriage and couples therapy called the Intersystem Model, which assesses and treats couples' problems from individual, interactional, and intergenerational perspectives. The authors address problems of commitment, intimacy, anger, and conflict, and the complexities relating to the treatment of depression: addictions and extramarital sexuality, marital adjustments to aging, and problems of inhibited sexual desire. They suggest techniques therapists can use to resolve problems that may occur in couples therapy and ways couple can move toward a higher level of functioning and personal growth.

The field of sex therapy has experienced tremendous growth in the last 20 years . The use of the term "sex therapy" for most clinicians brings several well-known therapists to mind and is associated with the treatment of a fairly limited number of sexual problems. The view of sex therapy as a profession has had both positive and negative consequences. The editor’s state that the purpose in writing and editing this book was to build on the work of individually oriented sex therapy by adding the systems perspective. This book, then, represents an attempt at the integration of sex and marital or systems therapy.

First published in 1982. Paradoxical psychotherapy has rapidly become one of the most· important approaches to family therapy and psychotherapy during the past few years. The aim of this book is to present an overview of paradoxical therapy. Paradoxical Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice with Individuals, Couples, and Families Is designed for all clinical psychologists. Applications are offered for the individual, marital, and family therapist.

In some ways the development of the theory and practice of marital therapy seems like a relative newcomer to those clinicians who practice systems therapy. Most of the books in the field stress the total family as the unit of treatment in terms of understanding the dynamics of family interactions and intervention techniques. For the past 15 or 20 years, clinicians interested in systems work sought training in "family" therapy programs and at "family" therapy workshops. This training led to a dramatic shift in the practice of psychotherapy away from the individual as the unfit of treatment to the family. Much less emphasis has been given to the marital dyad or couple as the unit of treatment.

This third edition of Couples in Treatment helps readers conceptualize and treat couples from multiple perspectives and with a multitude of techniques. The authors do not advocate any single approach to couple therapy and instead present basic principles and techniques with wide-ranging applicability and the power to invite change, making this the most useful text on integrative, systemic couple therapy. Throughout the book the authors consider the individual, interactional, and intergenerational systems of any case. Gerald Weeks’ Intersystems Model, a comprehensive, integrative, and contextual meta framework, can be superimposed over existing therapy approaches. It emphasizes principles of therapy and can facilitate assessing, conceptualizing couples’ problems, and providing helpful interventions. Couple therapists are encouraged to utilize the principles in this book to enhance their therapeutic process and fit their approach to the client, rather than forcing the client to fit their theory.

This third edition of Couples in Treatment helps readers conceptualize and treat couples from multiple perspectives and with a multitude of techniques. The authors do not advocate any single approach to couple therapy and instead present basic principles and techniques with wide-ranging applicability and the power to invite change, making this the most useful text on integrative, systemic couple therapy. Throughout the book the authors consider the individual, interactional, and intergenerational systems of any case. Gerald Weeks’ Intersystems Model, a comprehensive, integrative, and contextual meta framework, can be superimposed over existing therapy approaches. It emphasizes principles of therapy and can facilitate assessing, conceptualizing couples’ problems, and providing helpful interventions. Couple therapists are encouraged to utilize the principles in this book to enhance their therapeutic process and fit their approach to the client, rather than forcing the client to fit their theory.

The co-authors draw on over thirty years of experience to show young therapists how and how not to conduct psychotherapy. Each chapter begins with a vignette illustrating a common mistake, then describes the error in detail, explains why therapists make the mistake and offers tactics for avoiding it.

Confronted with a betrayal of intimacy, the couple’s relationship is in an extremely fragile state; the damage is often irreparable. In these trying circumstances, couples need an effective and confident therapist. Yet, cases of infidelity are notoriously difficult to treat. Therapists often approach this problem with apprehension, uncertainty, and a lack of confidence about what to do. The emotional and intellectual resources of the most skilled practitioner are severely taxed by the needs of the couple in crisis. In Treating Infidelity, Weeks, Gambescia, and Jenkins provide therapists and counselors with concepts, insights, and therapeutic plans that will allow them to work effectively with couples undergoing a crisis of broken intimacy. The authors address this severe therapeutic challenge with a comprehensive and inter-systematic approach that carefully considers the concerns of the couple, the partners as individuals, and the role of the therapist. Because it is a relationship problem, infidelity requires a flexible clinical regimen combining elements of individual and conjoint therapy within a systemic orientation. The authors have long used just such a regimen in their own clinical work with clients experiencing relational and sexual dysfunctions. Treating Infidelity presents the insights and organization of this successful clinical model, and provides a systematic and powerful way for couples to repair and recover from an affair. The multifaceted phenomenon of infidelity is explored in rich detail. The authors offer a conceptual framework that accounts for the varied contributing factors, common presentations, and the numerous consequences of infidelity. The heart of the book is concerned with recognizing when a breach in the couple’s agreement about exclusivity has occurred and assisting the couple in achieving the goal of forgiveness. Relying on their novel empirically-based approach, the authors demonstrate how forgiveness can be attained even in the most difficult cases where shame, accusatory suffering, anger, or fear can obstruct resolution. Moreover, Treating Infidelity addresses the conditions necessary for establishing the level and quality of communication that maintains a deep sense of intimacy between partners. The core of this powerful but flexible clinical approach is the understanding that there are various forms of intimacy (e.g., sexual, emotional, intellectual) and significant variations in what constitutes a breach of intimacy. Today, infidelity constitutes a more expansive category than adultery or extramarital sex. It includes any form of betrayal to the implied or stated contract between couples regarding intimate exclusivity, such as cybersex and other forms of Internet infidelity. In fact, as the contexts, forms, and consequences of infidelity grow more complex, therapists and counselors need the sort of systematic but flexible approach found in Treating Infidelity. The experience and circumstances of infidelity are unique to each couple. The authors demonstrate this necessary flexibility in their approach and convey how therapists must place the personal experience of clients at the center of treatment.

Over 50% of couples presenting for treatment will complain of insufficient sexual desire in one or both partners. Thus, all clinicians are very likely to encounter HSD in both individual and couple therapy practices. Here, Gerald Weeks and Nancy Gambescia present a treatment model for HSD based on the integration of medical and psychological interventions. This book provides clinicians with the theoretical and practical tools to understand and treat this complex problem. The book opens by providing a general background about HSD and describing the overall framework of the problem. The authors then review theories about the presence, absence, and normative amounts of sexual desire and cover factors that contribute to the lack of [sexual] desire from the individual perspective. Both nonpsychiatric and psychiatric factors are examined. Later chapters discuss the relational and intergenerational factors that place couples at risk for developing HSD. The physiology of sexual desire and the biological factors that can diminish it (such as hormonal deficiencies, chronic illnesses, and the sexual side effects of some medications) are also discussed. Finally, the authors provide a comprehensive assessment approach for HSD and outline basic principles and strategies for treatment. A couple's lack of sexual desire is a challenging issue for the clinician, but treatment is a rewarding endeavor. Every practitioner who wants to help couples revive their sexual relationship in the context of a significantly enhanced couple relationship will benefit from this book.

Impotence is a widespread phenomenon; about half of couples entering sex therapy and one quarter of those entering marital therapy will complain of this problem. As baby boomers enter their fifties and grow older during the next few decades, many more men will be affected by this problem. In this groundbreaking work, Gerald Weeks and Nancy Gambescia present the first serious discussion of comprehensive psychological and medical treatments for erectile dysfunction after the advent of Viagra. Though most recently Viagra has catapulted discussion of erectile dysfunction to the front pages of major newspapers and, via television, American living rooms, there are actually a number of different treatment options available. In fact, medical therapies for erectile dysfunction have developed at an ever-increasing pace in the last 20 years. Yet, despite widespread advances made in the treatment of erectile dysfunction, the field of sex therapy has lagged significantly behind in how it addresses the problem. The authors offer an integrated approach that examines both the organic and psychological factors contributing to erectile dysfunction. With this treatment model integrating both medical and psychological therapies, the authors also stress the role of the couple's relationship in the etiology and treatment of the dysfunction. The book presents medical information (about various kinds of drugs as well as other interventions); physiological information (why certain drugs work and why some don't); psychological information (the effects of the disorder on both the individual and the couple); and practical information (when and how to seek treatment and what type of treatment works best under different conditions). For sex and couple therapists and physicians, Erectile Dysfunction presents a systematic method for evaluating erectile dysfunction, determining whether its basis is primarily organic or psychogenic, and treating it by integrating medical interventions with sex and marital therapy. For the person seeking treatment (and for his spouse), the book offers a thorough and impartial discussion of the disorder.

First published in 1996. This books presents a problem-solving model of marriage and couples therapy called the Intersystem Model, which assesses and treats couples' problems from individual, interactional, and intergenerational perspectives. The authors address problems of commitment, intimacy, anger, and conflict, and the complexities relating to the treatment of depression: addictions and extramarital sexuality, marital adjustments to aging, and problems of inhibited sexual desire. They suggest techniques therapists can use to resolve problems that may occur in couples therapy and ways couple can move toward a higher level of functioning and personal growth.

As the field of the family has expanded, so has the need for an up-to-date volume that pulls together and defines major salient words, phrases, and concepts. This second edition of The Dictionary of Family Psychology and Family Therapy provides an expanded, handy reference for all family professionals--theoreticians, students, researchers, or clinicians. There is no other source like it. Each entry includes a definition of the term, an example relevant to its usage, the origin of the term, an early source using the term, and if pertinent, a recent source. "Borrowed" terms from other such fields as family law, sex therapy, clinical child psychology, and group psychology are also included. The Dictionary of Family Psychology and Family Therapy is an essential resource intended for use by students, faculty, family psychologists, family therapists, and others engaged in the family field. "The authors have succeeded in defining clearly and accessibly the major theoretical, and methodological concepts in the field of family studies, including operational definitions where appropriate." --Clinical Psychology Forum "This wonderful book actually is a dictionary, defining family psychology concepts and terms from A ('abortive runaway') to Z ('zero-sum game'). . . . Anyone who reads professional material in this field would find this dictionary invaluable. . . . The concise format will allow the reader to stay informed. . . . The application of concepts in examples and the provision of references are invaluable. This book also does a good job of representing, in an unbiased way, different theories or schools of thought. I would recommend The Dictionary of Family Psychology and Family Therapy as a reference for any professional in the family field and see it as a great supplemental text for a graduate course or student." --Family Relations "This is a timely book, and it should be on the library shelves of professionals who deal with people in the areas of clinical practice, research, and education. It should stand alongside textbooks and other dictionaries. It should be read and used as reference and source material. It complements our understandings of human behavior and interactions, particularly the interpersonal and intergroup inevitabilities in families as representing core societies. Workers with families in terms of the psychology and the therapy of such fundamental organizations of genetically and other related people will find in this volume a most valuable asset in furthering their understandings and enhancing their effectiveness as therapists." --Jess V. Cohn, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Miami Medical School, in The American Journal of Family Therapy

In some ways the development of the theory and practice of marital therapy seems like a relative newcomer to those clinicians who practice systems therapy. Most of the books in the field stress the total family as the unit of treatment in terms of understanding the dynamics of family interactions and intervention techniques. For the past 15 or 20 years, clinicians interested in systems work sought training in family therapy programs and at family therapy workshops. This training led to a dramatic shift in the practice of psychotherapy away from the individual as the unfit of treatment to the family. Much less emphasis has been given to the marital dyad or couple as the unit of treatment.

The field of sex therapy has experienced tremendous growth in the last 20 years . The use of the term sex therapy for most clinicians brings several well-known therapists to mind and is associated with the treatment of a fairly limited number of sexual problems. The view of sex therapy as a profession has had both positive and negative consequences. The editor’s state that the purpose in writing and editing this book was to build on the work of individually oriented sex therapy by adding the systems perspective. This book, then, represents an attempt at the integration of sex and marital or systems therapy.

First published in 1982. Paradoxical psychotherapy has rapidly become one of the most· important approaches to family therapy and psychotherapy during the past few years. The aim of this book is to present an overview of paradoxical therapy. Paradoxical Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice with Individuals, Couples, and Families Is designed for all clinical psychologists. Applications are offered for the individual, marital, and family therapist.