@article{ref1,
title="Intimate partners: a context for the intensification and healing of emotional pain",
journal="Women and therapy",
year="1996",
author="Snyder, Maryhelen",
volume="19",
number="3",
pages="79-92",
abstract="A case of a lesbian couple is presented in which one partner experienced early sexual abuse and the other a series of major losses (beginning with the death of her mother) in early childhood. The first partner developed an alcohol addiction and the second a high level of emotional lability and some practices of selfharm. Both partners developed dissociative patterns. The couple is now in a committed relationship and have continued in therapy for the last nine months, with sessions gradually becoming less frequent. The therapeutic work has included the &quot;externalization&quot; of the problem(s), some individual work within the couple session using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and a strong emphasis on the development of empathic skill through the technique of &quot;becoming&quot; the other person. The case reveals the way in which a primary relationship often surfaces intense unresolved feel-ings and dysfunctional relationship practices, and also the way in which emotional commitment and a structure for the couple becoming therapeutic agents to each other allows for a deep level of healing. The couple comments on their relationship process and the therapeutic process as part of the article.<p />",
language="en",
issn="0270-3149",
doi="10.1300/J015v19n03_08",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J015v19n03_08"
}