An Adlerian Approach to Pre-Marital Counseling with Religious Couples

• Main Authors: Duba-Sauerheber, Jill, Bitter, James Robert
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2013
• Subjects: Adlerian; therapy; counseling; premarital counseling; religious couples; Counseling and Human Services; Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5202

Many couples have been encouraged or even required by their pastors or by the state to engage in premarital counseling (Calvert & Bridges, 2006; Schumm et al., 2010; Williams, 2007). The majority of premarital counseling is provided within church settings and is provided by the clergy or lay ministers of the church (Schumm et al., 2010; Stahmann, 2000). Although pastors can provide education and spiritual guidance, they may not be adequately trained or comfortable with providing the clinical interventions that some premarital couples may need. The authors propose an Adlerian model for therapists to use when providing premarital counseling with religious couples. In addition, they provide a brief overview of existing popular assessments and inventories for premarital counseling, and they present a case study involving a male-female, Christian couple.