Guidance, counselling, therapy: responses to 'marital problems' 1950-90

Clark, D. (1991) Guidance, counselling, therapy: responses to 'marital problems' 1950-90. Sociological Review, 39(4), pp. 765-798.

Abstract

This paper makes a contribution to the still relatively undeveloped literature on the sociology of counselling, using a detailed case study of one organisation. Styles of intervention are explored in the work of the National Marriage Guidance Council/Relate. The paper rejects a simple linear development model based on transitions from 'guidance', to 'counselling' to 'therapy'. Influences deriving from Rogenan models of counselling, from psychodynamic and behavioural theory are explored and are placed in the context of wider organisational factors. Attention is given to the varying fortunes of the medical model within Marriage Guidance. The paper concludes with an examination of the contradictions thrown up by recent attempts to develop an eclectic model of marital counselling, which appear to founder on the absence of any clearly defined goals for intervention.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Clark, Professor David
• Authors: Clark, D.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: Sociological Review
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• ISSN: 0038-0261
• ISSN (Online): 1467-954X