Most couples enter therapy in such tightly patterned roles that they seem almost like caricatures (women who love and pursue too much, men who are wooden and withdrawn). In this practical and wise guide to couple therapy, Barry Dym shows how therapists can identify and transform those key moments when cracks in the couples' roles appear and alternative experience is given a chance to flow through.

Building on the classic idea that a system in disequilibrium is vulnerable to change, Dym greatly increases our understanding of when people are open to new experience. His detailed four-step decision tree will help readers master the art of spotting and supporting the often tentative and transient solutions that patients forge without obvious (or sometimes any) prompting from the therapist. He demonstrates how not only the couple but also the therapist must be ready for change.

Threaded through the book is a vivid case study of one couple that brilliantly illuminates how a therapist can time interventions to states of readiness. Dym presents the entire course of therapy session by session, not just flashy first-session interviews and dramatic outcomes. In addition to this moving portrait of one couple's experience, Dym offers numerous shorter examples that further illustrate the application of theory and technique.