Post-divorce Therapy for a Man Who Failed in Marriage

―Meaning of Therapeutic Approach toward Divorce in Beginning Marital Period―

Abstract

　　Post-divorce therapy was investigated through a case study of a man who divorced in about a half year after marriage due to psychogenic impotence. The therapy was terminated with seventy five sessions in two years and nine months. As a result, the following have been clarified:

1. Factors contributed to divorce;

　　There were several problems in the intrapsychic process of the client. These were: narcissistic vulnerability; indifference toward other people's feelings and himself; avoidant tendency toward intimate interpersonal relationships; lack of establishment of identity as man. The ex-wife also was weak in emotional expressions and her identity as woman was not established. In intergenerational relationships with their families of origin, the client pursued his mother image in his ex-wife, while the ex-wife projected weak and unreliable father image onto the client. Both were insufficient in differentiation of self from families of origin. Thus, they had intimacy anxieties with each other in their relationship as a couple, and in consequence, it was difficult for them to form the marital system.

2. Mourning work and process of self restoration-Meaning of post-divorce therapy;

　　By means of post-divorce therapy, the client expressed lonliness and hatred associated with divorce, then recoverd self-esteem and became capable of self acceptance. He could reestablish his own identity without relying on others’ evaluations. Furthermore, the problems of emotional expressions and intimate interpersonal relationships existed in pre-marital days have been reduced, making it possible to start of his own growth in such relationships.

3. The meaning of divorce in beginning marital period and therapeutic goals in relation to the developmental tasks of life cycle;

　　Divorce in beginning marital period is considered to be a loss of oneself rather than a loss of marital relationship. Accordingly, in addition to recovery of self-esteem and re-establishment of identity, improvement in the following three areas are suggested to be important.

　　These three areas are intrapsychic processes, intergenerational relationship with one’s own family of origin, and interpersonal relationships in general before marriage.