The couple assessment summary: a bridge from assessment to treatment

Treatment of couples presenting for therapy typically necessitates a process of riding out the storm of contention, entering the contextual framework in which the couple is relating and developing an understanding of the couple's interactive as well as intrapsychic world. The therapist's emerging conceptualization of the relational problems addressed in the assessment process provides an important foundation for the treatment process to follow. This formulation is recorded in the "Couple Assessment Summary" (CAS), which is developed in the diagnostic stage of the treatment process. A clearly conceptualized and structured document, the CAS is the suggested vehicle for engaging the couple in the treatment process to follow. The CAS serves as a logical extension of the Couple Assessment Outline, which is a therapist's tool for engaging the partners in the process of self-assessment and formulation. The CAS offers the therapist's perspective on the problems presented to the couple for review. This paper will demonstrate the utilization of the CAS with couples in distress and will illustrate its use with a couple engaged in the assessment process. The CAS is seen as a useful method for developing a shared understanding of the problems presented as the assessment process is often fraught with tension, anger, and chaotic interaction.