What is "Verbatim Therapy"?
With the flood of choices, the great expansion of faceless communication, the social distancing and isolation, today’s human bonding has been turned into a mad trial and error experiment. No one has ever detailed the changes caused by the cultural upheavals of the last fifty years and suggested a workable remedy. By expanding on his previous work, the author makes establishing the connecting links in a relationship an attainable goal once more.
The author and his wife have demonstrated Verbatim Therapy by acting out scenes from marriages, shack-ups and other disasters as they did in their six appearances on Feminine Franchise, their two presentations on Oprah along with many other TV and Radio shows, to help couples get again tuned into what they’re saying to each other.
A founding member of the National Alliance for Family Life, a frequent contributor to the American Journal of Family Therapy, the author has been a clinical psychologist and co-marriage counselor with his wife Freda, a child psychologist, for a combined total of more than fifty-five years.
The course consists of
a series of six regular group sessions of 2 hours each. At each of these
regular sessions the Meyers present a three-section dialogue skit demonstrating
couples arguments that develop in most relationships. The first part those
skits
present the
problem, in the second they explore the conflict situation while in the
third part they suggest possible solutions that lead to compromise and reconciliation.
Group participation in discussions about the subject matter of the skits
is encouraged, but is not obligatory. Every couple will then face their
own conflicts. By using the techniques shown in these skits, these conflicts
are then resolved constructively so that the relationship may actually
become stronger.
The "Verbatim Therapy" concept used in the presentation of these skits is not new. It has been used extensively in education as a learning tool. It is, however, new in couples counseling. By modeling constructive, easy to grasp solutions to problems that beset most relationships, it invites imitation. It has been likened to the apprenticeship concept employed in teaching such trades as brick laying, car-pentry and electrical work. Most couples enter into this most complex of all human relationships, with less basic training than a common laborer receives to handle a wheelbarrow. If those basic skills have not been learned, neither partner will get the satisfaction or enjoyment they should from the relationship. For "Verbatim Therapy" deals with the problems of day to day living with one another. It establishes the ground rules that make a relationship successful and satisfying.
Whether you are a young couple contemplating marriage, living together or a Golden Anniversary couple with grown children or somewhere in between, "Marriage Verbatim" is for you. For it lays down the ground rules for living with one another in a compatible, enjoyable, satisfying relationship. It will help you smooth out the rough spots, resolve conflicts and better understand the needs and requirements of your mate. But, at the same time, it will help you to better understand your own needs.
Postscript: This course is not available at present.