Last Chance Couple Therapy

"Peter Fraenkel's new book is chock-full of wisdom gained from years of clinical practice working with couples on the brink of divorce, often with high conflict. Fraenkel offers concrete clinical interventions and clinical vignettes along with extensive references to the literature in couple therapy. Peter's work is integrative and innovative. A solid, creative, insightful guide for the couple therapist working with these challenging couples.--Mona DeKoven Fishbane, PhD, 2017 APA Div 43 Psychologist of the Year, author of Loving with the Brain in Mind All couple therapists need to read this amazing book that opens the door to a very important, but overlooked group of couples: those on the brink of divorce, or worse, a lifetime of loveless life together. These couples deserve to see a therapist who uses a research- and theory-based therapy approach to help them restore hope and happiness. Now all couple therapists can reach these couples by following the program Dr. Fraenkel presents in this new and exciting book. He is also one of the best writers you will read in the plethora of books on couple therapy, so not only will you learn this exciting new approach, but you will really enjoy reading the book.--Howard Markman, PhD, founder of the PREP approach, coauthor of Fighting FOR Your Marriage Peter Fraenkel's brilliant new book focuses on a crucial, special group of clients in couple therapy, those for whom the therapy really is the last chance. Anchored in his therapeutic palette approach that draws from a wide range of therapies, Fraenkel offers a keen understanding of these couples as well as the complex integrative therapy that can help them resolve this life crisis. Filled with poignant clinical vignettes and workable guidance for practice and drawing from Fraenkel's highly innovative toolkit for intervention that includes music and art, this clearly is the definitive book on this subject and the book that couple therapists should read this year.--Jay L. Lebow, PhD, ABPP, senior scholar and clinical professor, the Family Institute at Northwestern and Northwestern University This remarkable book, based on more than three decades of clinical work and richly illustrated with many detailed case vignettes, is a must-read for any couple therapist--and not only for those working with seemingly hopeless couples presenting with a long history of failed therapies. Fraenkel's 'open-hearted surgery' approach demonstrates convincingly that by continuously generating a vast range of different creative contexts, even the most entrenched couples get a chance to change their interactions and improve their lives. Amazing!--Prof. Dr. Eia Asen, Anna Freud Centre and University College London With great mastery, Peter Fraenkel pulls back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of his three-decade-long practice with the most precarious couples. Last Chance Couple Therapy is a curious and illuminating read for therapists, coaches, and clinicians.--Esther Perel, psychotherapist, author and host of Where Should We Begin? If, as Minuchin said, that therapy is ""like a Tango,"" Peter Fraenkel's Last Chance Couples Therapy lays out the steps for therapists who, in teaching couples who've lost their steps how to dance as partners, learn how to heal one another and themselves for all of life's many dances.--Jay Lappin, M.S.W., LCSW"