Diana Kirschner

Last updated

Diana Adile Kirschner
Born1948
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology, comprehensive family therapy

Diana Adile Kirschner (born 1948) [1] is an American psychologist and author. Early in her career she was involved in the field of integrative psychotherapy, a movement that seeks to find the best practices from among the major schools of therapy. Kirschner's work involved integrating individual therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy into an approach called Comprehensive Family Therapy. The book she coauthored, Comprehensive Family Therapy, was nominated by the American Psychological Association as one of the 100 most important books on family psychology.

Contents

Work

Kirschner has written extensively on psychotherapy integration, couples and family therapy, the treatment of sexual abuse, and the role of psychologists in family-owned businesses and the media. Her chapter on Comprehensive Family Therapy was included [2] in the two-volume survey and history of the field, Voices in Family Psychology. Various texts on integrative psychotherapy have included Kirschner's work on treating couples and families, [3] the process of change, [4] the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in incest survivors in the context of family dysfunction, [5] and the treatment of difficult children. [6]

Kirschner was a founding member of the editorial board and contributor to the Journal of Couples Therapy. [7] She was also a founding faculty member and director of the Pennsylvania-based Institute for Comprehensive Family Therapy, a non-profit, postgraduate mental health training and treatment center whose certificate program in marriage and family therapy was accredited by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Major contributions

A past focus of Kirschner's research has been the impact of the marital relationship on children's functioning and the common underlying characteristics of healthy marriages. Kirschner hypothesized the existence of a set of critical variables impacting children's well-being and social functioning, as well as the existence of a link between the quality of the marital relationship and everyday marital conflict and the way the spouses reared the child. Recent studies have validated this correlation. In a 2002 study [8] of over 2,500 married parents with a child under 18 living at home, researchers found that marital conflict had a direct impact on children's problems, was related to more frequent use of harsh discipline, and increased the level of conflict between parents and adolescents. Kirschner's findings regarding the impact of marital conflict on children's adjustment are relevant to the "nature vs. nurture" controversy. Cummings and Davies [9] reported similar results.

Kirschner also hypothesized the existence of common characteristics among relationally healthy or highly satisfied couples. She interpreted Tolstoy's opening line from Anna Karenina, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way", as an observation that happy couples and families share characteristics. Kirschner asserted that relational success derived from a commitment by the spouses to help each other grow and develop. Experiments showed that high-satisfaction couples enjoyed spending time alone more than couples reporting medium or low relational satisfaction. Kirschner also found that successful couples and families learned to handle conflicts skillfully to prevent lingering resentment. Two decades of empirical research summarized by Gottman and Silver (1999), [10] Olson and Flowers [11] (over 6,000 couples studied, 1993) and a metanalysis by Bradbury, Fincham, and Beach (2000) [12] have validated Kirschner's ideas and confirmed the relational importance of commitment, conflict resolution skills, desire to spend time with each other, sexual fidelity, and lack of violence.

Kirschner's 2011 work, Sealing the Deal: The Love Mentor's Guide to Lasting Love, discusses the influence that partners in a relationship can have on each other. Specifically, that "affirmation from one partner to the target partner increases the target’s belief that his partner understands and approves of him and genuinely cares about his growth and fulfillment". [13] Kirschner's theory of mutual influence has been borne out by the work of other psychologists, and has been termed "the Michelangelo phenomenon".

Kirschner was co-editor of the American Psychological Association's first book devoted to psychology and the media. [14] She focused on the impact of violence in the media on children; gender discrimination and ageism in television and other media; as well as on the roles psychologists play in the mass media.

Current work

Kirschner also stars in Love in 90 Days: Finding Your Own True Love, a one-woman Amazon Prime Video release, which was formerly a PBS Pledge Special devoted to love relationships and dating. She appeared regularly on The Today Show as a guest psychologist. Dr. Kirschner and her team of dating coaches and relationship coaches work with women and men from around the world. Her work has been written up in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Kirschner is a regular contributor to Psychology Today.

Publications

See also

Related Research Articles

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

Couples therapy attempts to improve romantic relationships and resolve interpersonal conflicts.

The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s. It combines systems thinking with the view that the mind is made up of relatively discrete subpersonalities, each with its own unique viewpoint and qualities. IFS uses systems psychology, particularly as developed for family therapy, to understand how these collections of subpersonalities are organized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gottman</span> American psychologist

John Mordechai Gottman is an American psychologist, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. His work focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counseling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviors shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships. His work has also had a major impact on the development of important concepts on social sequence analysis. He and his wife, psychologist Julie Schwartz Gottman, co-founded and lead a relationship company and therapist training entity called The Gottman Institute. They have also co-founded Affective Software Inc, a program designed to make marriage and relationship counseling methods and resources available to a larger audience.

Leslie Samuel Greenberg is a Canadian psychologist born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is one of the originators and primary developers of Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals and couples. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at York University in Toronto, and also director of the Emotion-Focused Therapy Clinic in Toronto. His research has addressed questions regarding empathy, psychotherapy process, the therapeutic alliance, and emotion in human functioning.

According to Michael First of the DSM-5 working committee the focus of a relational disorder, in contrast to other DSM-IV disorders, "is on the relationship rather than on any one individual in the relationship".

Emotionally focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are a set of related approaches to psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families. EFT approaches include elements of experiential therapy, systemic therapy, and attachment theory. EFT is usually a short-term treatment. EFT approaches are based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated and worked through, can help people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. Emotion-focused therapy for individuals was originally known as process-experiential therapy, and it is still sometimes called by that name.

A clinical formulation, also known as case formulation and problem formulation, is a theoretically-based explanation or conceptualisation of the information obtained from a clinical assessment. It offers a hypothesis about the cause and nature of the presenting problems and is considered an adjunct or alternative approach to the more categorical approach of psychiatric diagnosis. In clinical practice, formulations are used to communicate a hypothesis and provide framework for developing the most suitable treatment approach. It is most commonly used by clinical psychologists and is deemed to be a core component of that profession. Mental health nurses, social workers, and some psychiatrists may also use formulations.

Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy was a Hungarian-American psychiatrist and one of the founders of the field of family therapy. Born Iván Nagy, his family name was changed to Böszörményi-Nagy during his childhood. He emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1950, and he simplified his name to Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy at the time of his naturalization as a US citizen.

Common factors theory, a theory guiding some research in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, proposes that different approaches and evidence-based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share common factors that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. This is in contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy and counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors that are suited to treatment of particular problems.

Luciano L'Abate was an Italian psychologist who worked in the United States. He was the father of relational theory and author, co-author, editor or co-editor of more than 55 books in the field of American psychology.

Gerald R. Weeks is an American author and lecturer. He has published 30 books on psychotherapy, which have been translated into multiple languages. He has published in the fields of individual, and family therapy, although he is best known for his work in sex and couple's therapy. Weeks is the founder of the Systems Approach to Sex Therapy as well as the founder of the Intersystem Approach to therapy which has been called one of the most ambitious efforts to develop an integrative approach to psychotherapy. He was a professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from 1999-2017. In 2017, he became Professor Emeritus as he retired from UNLV.

Family therapy is a branch of psychotherapy focused on families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Tatkin</span> Relationships and neuroscience author

Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, is a clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer of A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT). 

Jay Lebow is an American family psychologist who is senior scholar at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, clinical professor at Northwestern University and is editor-in-chief of the journal Family Process. He is board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Lebow is known for his publications and presentations about the practice of couple and family therapy, integrative psychotherapy, the relationship of research and psychotherapy practice, and psychotherapy in difficult divorce, as well as for his role as an editor in the fields of couple and family therapy and family science. He is the author or editor of 13 books and has written 200 journal articles and book chapters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Schwartz Gottman</span> American psychologist

Julie Schwartz Gottman is an American clinical psychologist, researcher, speaker, and author. Together with her husband and collaborator, John Gottman, she is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute – an organization dedicated to strengthening relationships through research-based products and programs. She is the co-creator of the Sound Relationship House Theory, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and The Art and Science of Love weekend workshop for couples, among other programs. In addition to her internationally recognized clinical work, Julie Schwartz Gottman is the author or co-author of six books – Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage, And Baby Makes Three, 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, The Man's Guide to Women, The Marriage Clinic Casebook, and The Science of Couples and Family Therapy. She is also the co-author of over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles.

David Morris Schnarch ; September 18, 1946, in New York City, New York – October 8, 2020, in Evergreen, Colorado) was an American couples, sex and trauma therapist, clinical psychologist and urologist.

Susan Heitler is an American clinical psychologist. She practiced from 1975 to 2020 at the Rose Medical Center in Denver, treating individuals, couples and families. She specializes in treating depression, anger, anxiety, marital problems, parental alienation, and conflict resolution

References

  1. ↑ "Kirschner, Diana Adile, 1948–". id.loc.gov. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  2. ↑ Kirschner, S. & Kirschner, D.A. (1990). Comprehensive Family Therapy. In F. W. Kaslow (Ed.)Voices in Family Psychology, Vol. 2, (pp. 231–243). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN   0-8039-3794-6.
  3. ↑ Kirschner, S. & Kirschner, D.A.(1993). Couples and Families. In G. Stricker & J. R. Gold (Eds.), Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy Integration (pp. 401–412). New York: Plenum Press. ISBN   0-306-44280-9.
  4. ↑ Kirschner, S. & Kirschner, D. A. (1991). The two faces of change: Progression and regression. In R. C. Curtis & G. Stricker (Eds.), How People Change: Inside and Outside Therapy (pp.117–127). New York: Plenum Press. ISBN   0-306-43784-8.
  5. ↑ Kirschner, S. & Kirschner, D. A. (1996). Relational Components of the Incest Survivor Syndrome. In F.W. Kaslow (Ed.), Handbook of Relational Diagnosis, (pp.407–419). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   0-471-08078-0.
  6. ↑ Guerney, Jr., B. G., Fraillon, J. M. G., Kirschner, D. A., & Kirschner, S. (1990). In N. Saltzman & J. C. Norcross (Eds.), Therapy Wars: Contention and Convergence in Differing Clinical Approaches (pp. 218–241). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN   1-55542-259-4.
  7. ↑ Kirschner, D. A. & Kirschner, S. (1990). Couples Therapy: A New Look. Journal of Couples Therapy, 1 (1), 91–100.
  8. ↑ Buehler, C. & Gerard, J. M. (2002). Marital conflict, ineffective parenting, and children and adolescents' maladjustment. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, pp. 78–92.
  9. ↑ Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2002). Effects of marital conflict on children: Recent advances and emerging themes in process-oriented research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, pp. 31–63.
  10. ↑ Gottman, J. M. & Silver, N. (1999). The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. New York: Crown.
  11. ↑ Olson, D. H. & Flowers, B. J. (1993). Five Types of marriage: An Empirical Typology based on ENRICH. The Family Journal, 1, (3), pp. 196–207.
  12. ↑ Bradbury, T. N., Fincham, F. D., & Beach, S. (2000). Research on the nature and determinants of marital satisfaction: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and the Family,62, pp. 964–980.
  13. ↑ Kirschner, Diana (2011). Sealing the Deal: The Love Mentor's Guide to Lasting Love. Hachette.
  14. ↑ Kirschner, S. & Kirschner, D. A. (Eds.) (1997). Perspectives on Psychology and the Media. Washington: American Psychological Association. ISBN   1-55798-433-6
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.