The target of couple therapy is a couple’s intimate relationship, and treatment involves one of the variations of behavioral couple therapy. Credible components of treatment include early assessment of goals and commitment, measurement-based care, and focusing on positive exchanges between partners. A sidebar discusses preventative interventions, and another sidebar explores self-directed and brief programs. The chapter also discusses the assessment of intimate partner violence.

This chapter explains the interventions that are used to repair and strengthen relationships. It starts with a description of common evidence-based therapeutic interventions, including forms of behavioral couple therapy and emotionally focused couple therapy. Then it reviews the evidence supporting short-term and long-term benefits of therapeutic interventions to improve relationship functioning. The second half of this chapter reviews educational interventions that can strengthen relationships and keep them from becoming distressed, including PREP, a widely used and adapted couple relationship education program. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how therapeutic and educational interventions can be strengthened by increasing their accessibility and by adapting them for minority (e.g., same-sex) couples.