Couples Experiencing Commitment Uncertainty

It is not uncommon for couples to quarrel over issues such as chores or finances. However, such conflicts tend to have underlying, unresolved issues that can easily be mistaken for something else. Therefore, it is essential that therapists have a keen awareness of underlying issues that aren't always expressed out rightly.

In Couples Experiencing Commitment Uncertainty, clinical interventions are led by establishing a secure attachment between partners, and helping couples identify their emotional needs, often hidden amongst conflict.

In this video program, Drs. Johanna Strokoff and Jesse Owen both direct the co-therapy demonstration session by helping a couple express their most authentic and vulnerable desires for comfort, acceptance, and love while also communicating concerns about judgment or abandonment.

Dr. Johanna Strokoff's approach with couple's work is integrative and influenced by Sue Johnson's emotionally focused couple therapy and psychodynamic approaches, with emotional intimacy and seeking a secure attachment driving her clinical interventions.

This approach is highly reliant on forming a collaborative, authentic therapeutic alliance with each partner, including informing couples of the therapy process, tracking their emotional reactions to session content, and acknowledging each partner's shared responsibility for couple distress and improvement.

Dr. Jesse Owen's approach to couple therapy balances systemic and psychodynamic theoretical principles. His work is also grounded in a belief that couple commitment is the foundation of understanding how to frame therapy. Additionally, he approaches couples therapy with a keen focus on developing a couple oriented, collaborative, and real relationship with couples.

Dr. Jesse Owen is the department chair for the counseling psychology department at the University of Denver. His research focuses on how and why psychotherapy works.

He has published more than 130 articles, chapters, and books focused on psychotherapy, romantic relationships, and couple therapy. He was the lead author on the special issue focused on commitment uncertainty in Couple & Family Psychology: Research & Practice. He also serves as an associate editor for two APA journals (Psychotherapy; Journal of Counseling Psychology.

Dr. Johanna Strokoff received her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, where she received extensive training in couple therapy and research.

Along with her independent practice, Dr. Strokoff is also a licensed staff psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Counseling Center, where she provides individual, couple, and group therapy, while also leading the couples seminar for psychology doctoral interns and providing relationship health outreach programming for UIC students. Her passion for couple therapy has led to presenting to students and clinicians on couple therapy and publishing research on romantic relationships.

• Johnson, S. M. (2012). The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy: Creating connection, Second edition. Brunner-Routledge, New York, NY.
• Knopp, K., Rhoades, G. K., Stanley, S., Owen, J., & Markman, H. (2014). Fluctuations in commitment over time and relationship outcomes. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 3(4), 220–231.
• Luebcke, B., Owen, J., Keller, B., Shuck, B., Knopp, K., & Rhoades, G. K. (2014). Therapy interventions for couples: A commitment uncertainty comparison. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 3(4), 239–254.
• Owen, J., & Quirk, K. (2014). Heightening in couple therapy. Psychotherapy, 51(1), 7–10.
• Owen, J., Keller, B., Shuck, B., Luebcke, B., Knopp, K., & Rhoades, G. K. (2014). An initial examination of commitment uncertainty in couple therapy. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 3(4), 232–238.
• Owen, J., Rhoades, G., Shuck, B., Fincham, F. D., Stanley, S., Markman, H., & Knopp, K. (2014). Commitment uncertainty: A theoretical overview. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 3(4), 207–219.
• Scheinkman, M., & Fishbane, M. D. (2004). The vulnerability cycle: Working with impasses in couple therapy. Family Process, 43(3), 279–299.

APA Videos

• Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy
  Rhonda N. Goldman
• Forgiveness in Couple Therapy
  Everett L. Worthington and Steven J. Sandage
• Forgiveness Therapy in Practice
  Robert D. Enright
• Integrative Couple Therapy
  Ellen F. Wachtel and Paul L. Wachtel
• Integrative Systemic Therapy With Couples
  William M. Pinsof
• Restoring Trust After Infidelity
  Lawrence Josephs
• Working With Issues in Divorce
  Jay Lebow

APA Books

• Couple and Family Therapy: An Integrative Map of the Territory
  Jay L. Lebow
• Couple Power Therapy: Building Commitment, Cooperation, Communication, and Community in Relationships
  Peter L. Sheras and Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras
• Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power
  Leslie S. Greenberg and Rhonda N. Goldman
• Enhanced Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy for Couples: A Contextual Approach
  Norman B. Epstein and Donald H. Baucom
• Forgiveness and Spirituality in Psychotherapy: A Relational Approach
  Everett L. Worthington, Jr., and Steven J. Sandage
• The Marriage Checkup Practitioner's Guide: Promoting Lifelong Relationship Health
  James V. Cordova