Consensus Therapy is a newly developed form of dyadic treatment, such as Couples Therapy. It aims to help dyad members achieve consensus on important relationship domains and specific concerns they bring to counseling.
Consensus Therapy encourages members to perform "reality checks" on their differences and to accept them instead of fighting over them. It incorporates both old and new clinical protocols, emphasizing active listening, paraphrasing, negotiation, open and constructive communication, and primarily, building consensus on presenting issues.
This therapy is designed to help members feel more comfortable, open-minded, and trusting towards each other. It seeks to build mutual understanding and reduce common negative communication patterns, such as Projective Mystification(1) (e.g., mind-reading) and Behavioral Communication(2) (e.g., using emotional disengagement as a way to communicate disagreement).
Consensus Therapy is based on the research “Perceptual Agreement: Assessing Reality and Illusion in Romantic Relationships” by Michael Ivanov Ph.D., and Paul Warner, Ph.D.(3). The concept was initially developed as a doctoral dissertation by Michael Ivanov, Ph.D.(4), later presented at the Western Psychological Association Conference(5), and published in the Journal of Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice(3).
Perceptual Agreement explores variations among partners in how much they share a reality of their relationship, including a jointly held representation of one another and the characteristics each brings to the relationship.
The research assessed Perceptual Agreement through a multi-measure approach, profile-comparison techniques, and a retest study. The construct was found to be normally distributed and largely independent of major demographic characteristics, such as education, age, ethnicity, and, notably, the length of the relationship, indicating that knowing your partner for months or years does not affect your position on the continuum from being illusionary about your relationship to having perceptual cohesion.
Perceptual Agreement significantly and strongly predicts relationship satisfaction (64% and 72%, depending on your gender). It also correlates with self-esteem and has an inverse correlation to jealousy. Believing you know your partner better than they know themselves (Projective Mystification) likely places you lower on the Perceptual Agreement continuum(3).
Evidence strongly supports the positive association between Perceptual Agreement and attributes of healthy relationships, such as Constructive Communication and Openness/Self-Disclosure, and its negative association with unhealthy relationship attributes, such as Behavioral Communication, Projective Mystification, and Demand-Withdraw Communication(3,6).
Relationship quality can’t be improved by magic or the mere belief that love will take care of everything but it can be helped by addressing factors that predict it. Consensus Therapy aims to help partners and other dyadic members by addressing many such factors, with a major emphasis on attaining Perceptual Agreement.
In New York, NYC Psychological Services, PLLC, offers in-person or video appointments with Dr. Michael Ivanov. Additionally, an upcoming app will provide a convenient and affordable alternative to traditional couples therapy. The app will engage dyadic members with guided protocols to achieve consensus and enhance your relationship. Check this page for future updates.
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