An indication for conjoint treatment: an application based on an assessment of individual psychopathology

Conjoint treatment is advocated as the treatment of choice for a particular class of patients who do not seem able, at least initially, to benefit from individual exploratory psychotherapy. These people identify a person or persons, usually a spouse, as the primary cause of their difficulty. They show no initial capacity for self-observation. Their needs are childlike, and they show limitations in skills and a striking inability to sustain mutually gratifying relationships. The conjoint situation seems capable of initiating self-observation by confronting them with the reality of the person about which they are making claims. As a therapy, it also initiates an improvement in their marital relationship, thereby helping them potentially to gain that which they crave so desperately, but had been unable to realize except in compromise form, that is, in fantasy or in a relationship with a therapist.