back to books and tapes

From the Angry Couple The Angry Couple - Conflict-Focused Treatment by Susan Heitler, Ph.D.

The Angry Couple video is an absorbing and entertaining “reality show” that gives couples a sneak preview into how good marriage therapy works.  

With actors re-playing the marriage therapy of an actual couple, Judith and Richard, Dr. Heitler demonstrates how therapy teaches couples to talk safely and successfully about emotionally intense issues.  Judith and Richard’s intimacy grows as they learn to talk together without the anger, complaints, criticism, or blame that had been tarnishing their affection.  As their conflicts, one by one, flow to resolution, Judith and Richard find their love re-emerging.   Under Dr. Heitler’s guidance and with their new talking-together skills, Judith and Richard save their marriage.

The Angry Couple was produced originally as a teaching video for therapists-in-training. Throughout the video Dr. Heitler explains her therapy techniques step by step, which helps viewers to understand how and why therapy works.  These commentaries have made the video popular as a continuing education option for therapists who want to add Dr. Heitler’s interventions to their couple therapy methods.

The Angry Couple includes demonstrations and explanations of a broad range of relationship skills:

• Techniques for preventing anger escalations

• Ways to convert inflammatory interactions to cooperative dialogue

• Explanations of why spouses feel angry, anxious or depressed in certain types of marriage interactions

• Ways to access early memories of emotionally powerful childhood experiences that may be interfering with married life

• Ways to clarify subconscious core concerns (transference issues)

• The three steps of the "win-win waltz" that lead from conflict to resolution.

• The communication and conflict management skills that insure comfortable dialogue and a strong and loving marriage.

Couples who are watching Richard and Judy’s therapy to discover how they too can overcome difficulties in their relationship generally benefit most from the video if they view it multiple times over a period of several weeks. Like learning a new language, learning new marriage skills needs repetitions.   

An additional way to enhance the learning from this video is to read Dr. Heitler’s book on marriage skills, The Power of Two, and to practice the skills in The Power of Two Workbook. 

The video can be purchased alone at a reduced price of $60, or in combination with the book and two Workbooks, for a Couple’s Video/Books Special price of $99.

Comprehensive 64 page Viewer's Manual included with the video.

For therapists’ continuing education credits, see www.ce-credit.com or www.psybc.com

Order this selection

$89.95 Video. 75 minutes. Color.
ISBN 1-56784-406-5

Back to homepage       Back to books and tapes