Positive Communication in Relationships

You are a couple’s therapist who happens to be Black. You are seeing a couple for trust issues and meeting with one member of the couple for individual therapy.

The other partner, is also Black. He or she is very jealous, and during the course of your work has admitted to having had an ongoing affair but says it has ended.

Your goal with the couple has been to improve communication. Your goal with the individual work is to provide additional support and specific skills tailored for each partner.

As therapist, what skills would you suggest in this situation to improve communication?
© BrainMass Inc. brainmass.com October 10, 2019, 8:04 am ad1c9bdddf
https://brainmass.com/psychology/cognitive-psychology/positive-communication-relationships-607266
Solution Preview

The first step in this situation would be to determine the communication styles of each partner. There are four potential communication styles that could be presented in this situation. The first style is considered to be passive communication which essentially means that the individual does not feel that their needs and desires are as important as other peoples and this is distinctly seen in their communication style. The client would be viewed as nervous and shy and the client would hate confrontation and go to extreme lengths to avoid it. The second style of communication is aggressive communication. This can be identified if the individual uses harsh language and seems overly aggressive and insulting to their partner. The third style of communication is passive-aggressive communication. This is typically seen by an individual using guilt and manipulation to get what they want. The key to passive-aggressive communication …