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Case Study - Interventive Interviewing

Mary had been having an online affair for a year which her husband John discovered. They went to therapy previously for a similar issue six years ago. In therapy, John believed Mary had an internet addiction or mental illness as a result of past trauma. The therapist used circular questions to understand why the affairs occurred, both recently and in the past, and how the couple viewed the situation individually and together to highlight relationship patterns and create space for a new understanding between Mary and John.

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44 views8 pages

Case Study - Interventive Interviewing

Mary had been having an online affair for a year which her husband John discovered. They went to therapy previously for a similar issue six years ago. In therapy, John believed Mary had an internet addiction or mental illness as a result of past trauma. The therapist used circular questions to understand why the affairs occurred, both recently and in the past, and how the couple viewed the situation individually and together to highlight relationship patterns and create space for a new understanding between Mary and John.

Uploaded by

samuel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Case study

Case study: The internet affair.


• The couple presented for therapy because the wife,
Mary, had been having a “cyber affair” on the
internet over the last year. This was the second
such occurrence, the first one being 6 years ago, for
which they had gone for therapy with the problem
being apparently “solved”. The recent “cyber affair”
was “discovered” by the husband John who became
suspicious of the amount of time she was spending
on the internet again. John had changed jobs a year
ago that meant he spent more time at home. They
presented in the first session
• with John having the view that “there was
something wrong in Mary’s head” and that she had
an “internet addiction” as the result of her father’s
death and an abortion a few years ago.
• Mary was “confused” and did not know why this
had happened again. She struggled to find an
answer for John and had seemed to concede to his
definition of the problem that she was “mentally
ill”.
• She did concede that she enjoyed the pleasure of
engaging in the “forbidden” as it was sexually
exciting.
• The approach was influenced by the following ideas
• Why a cyber affair and not a real one?
• Why now and why 6 years ago?
• How had the previous one been “resolved” to set this
one up?
• The meaning of a cyber affair for them as individuals and
as a couple?
Technique (Practise activities and tools)
• Circular questions create a double description
(both/and) for a couple allowing for true co-evolution.
By exploring John’s life script, a long -standing pattern
of controlling behaviour around Mary was
highlighted, starting even before they were married.
• This had suited Mary’s life script of “being needed”.
The arc of time questions (“when did you first feel you
could no longer manage John’s demand to be the
perfect wife?”) identified the changes in John’s job
and his “depression” as a key elements in the loss of
“space” for her.
Conclusion
• The intention of circular questions to highlight the
relational descriptions allows for a deeper
exploration with a couple in an empathic manner as
part of the coevolving process of a new description
of the couple. The stories emerge and are enlarged
upon, allowing for a richness of life that as
therapists we are privileged to be part.

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