Constructing the moral order of a relationship in couples therapy

Abstract

Although couples therapy is rightly seen as one modality of the psychotherapies, many salient aspects of the process are not revealed by psychological theory. These have to do with how, in therapeutic conversations, the couple relationship is presented and performed as a social institution with a particular social and moral order. The moral order of a relationship includes more or less articulated and shared understandings of what is valued and what is not, what are the loyalties, duties, and responsibilities expected from the partners, and the grounds for evaluating actions. It also includes expectations concerning how value, concern, and respect are communicated. In this case study, based on four sessions of therapy with two relatively young adults coming from two different cultural environments (North and South Europe) and being in an early phase of establishing a couple relationship, a detailed discursive analysis of representative episodes from the sessions showed how positionings and meaning-constructions relevant to forming a moral order were performed. It was found that the construction or "negotiation" of the moral order was an implicit process that was not given conscious attention by the participants, therapists and clients alike. In this sense, it remained "invisible" for the participants and consequently the therapy process, although beneficial from the point of view of the presenting problem, did not afford the crucial issue of commitment to rise to the focus of the agenda.