Abstract
Marriage it seems has always been a key element in the family systems of the western world. The joining of two people of the opposite sex in a unity bond, with the purpose of creating a system to produce children and bring them to adulthood.
These marriage bonds usually start with a romantic love affair between the partners that lead to a permanent joining in some form of marriage. It is these long term bonds that seem to suffer from endless pursuits to find a way to be joined for a lifetime. In most of the western world the divorce rate between couples average fifty pe
People from all walks of life seem to suffer the same fate and Christians specifically do not seem to indicate a higher rate of marital success. The faith and biblical principals Christians adhere to is a strong motivator to keep people together but does not have all the practical answers for the co-habitation of to individuals in a long term relationship.
Christian marriage counseling possess several unique traits that enhances their counseling processes but does not indicate to have a significant higher success rate than an other form of marital counseling.
Imago relationship therapy is an approach to relationship counseling that offers some new ideas and methods. It combines several principals from different psychological therapeutic approaches into a unique relational approach. Based on the belief that the relationship is a systemic it approaches the couple as a unity and all therapy is done with both partners present. The approach uses several practical exercises to foster emotional connection between the partners and teach them new relational and communication skills.
This approach indicates a high success rate and seems to seamlessly flow with normal Christian counselling. The principals of Christian marriage counseling can be enhanced and put into practice by using the imago techniques.
It is deducted that Imago relationship therapy can easily be integrated into a Christian marriage counseling approach and produce good results.
Prof. W.J. Hattingh