1995 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 63-75
The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to advocate mental health services that are based on the educational model and (2) to introduce Relationship Enhancement Marital/Family Therapy (RE) as an example of one of the therapeutic approaches that is based on the educational model. First, the author makes a comparison of helping behaviors in the mental health field that are based on the traditional medical model to those based on the educational model. Second, the concept of empowerment, which can be shown to be related to the rationale of the educational model, is discussed in the context of the therapist-client relationship. Then, the author illustrates RE, which is a psychoeducational program for marital couples and families that is based on the skills training approach. The main strengths of RE are (1) that it is theoretically integrated; (2) that its effectiveness has been empirically supported; and (3) that it is applicable to various interpersonal problems, especially marital/familial problems. The paper provides a brief overview of: the rationale and the integrated theoretical framework underlying RE; the skills which clients learn; the therapists’ techniques in RE therapy sessions; and empirical studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of RE. Last, caveats are offered and the applicability of the educational model and RE to a Japanese population is discussed.
