Couple Therapy- Addressing Illness.

A ‘Bio-Psycho-Social’ model is found very effective in helping couples coping with medical problems.

This model suggests that all the three factors, biological, psychological and social, play significant roles both in health and disease.

In many cultures a connection of mind and body has been well recognized since long. That is why several techniques to strengthen mind and will-power are in vogue.

Similarly, the contribution of community or social support is also well recognized in the healing process.

The role of a family therapist is of great importance here. All over the world people take the help of a therapist in dealing with issues related with disease and illness.

In the above model, the couple is considered as a ‘unit of care’. So the focus is on the couple and not just on the individual who is coping with the disease. In case of a chronic illness, a successful management depends on how well the couple is able to adapt to the prevailing conditions. Some illnesses demand major shift in roles and lifestyles and that may create a lot of stress on the couple.

The main task of the therapist is to assess the level of functioning of the couple. For this, a lot of information is collected by the therapist. He directly communicates with the patient and the partner and talks about their perception about the disease, their current challenges and losses. He encourages them to tell the story of their illness. For them, hearing each other’s experiences is very therapeutic in itself. The therapist also collects couple’s history of the disease, their earlier ways to deal with disease and illness, their current fears and expectations etc. The therapist may also take the help of other professionals to collect data and genograms. All this information not only helps the therapist but also the couple to better understand them in the light of current situation.

This model of therapy generally presents two goals; the first one is helping the couple accept that the illness is there and that they both have to deal with it as a team that requires active involvement and commitment. The therapist helps them to know what is in their control and what is not. This type of understanding reduces their sense of helplessness. The second goal is to create a social support system for the couple, both within the family and the community in general.

The therapist also facilitates communication among the partners, between the couples and the health care system and between the couple and social support system. A lack of communication must not come in the way because it aggravates the problem and the recovery. The therapist, therefore, 

arranges sessions with friends, extended family members and other families facing similar problems. 

With this kind of therapy, the couple is able to take charge of their lives and develops a way to live a ‘new’ normal life by ‘putting illness in its place.’

The therapist also discusses the principles of ‘keep the doors open’ of brief psychotherapy with couples to give them a sense of security that whenever they need they can contact and take help of their therapist.