Theoretical background of Imago Therapy:
Harville HENDRIX united four approaches and applied them to couples :
· developmental psychology establishing the successive stages of maturity;
· cognitive therapy with its structured, active styles of intervention;
· neuroscience with its research on how brain regions influence behavior;
· psychoanalytic theory with its emphasis on defense mechanisms and unconscious repetition.
His first book, “Getting the love you want” (1988) presents a synthesis of these 4 approaches and has a practical Appendix explaining how to proactively develop one’s couple without a therapist. It was a best-seller in the US. In 1995, after his second book "Keeping the love you find" (1992), he published a short article on the essentials of theory and practice of IRT; one can read its French translation: see here (the original in English is unavailable for copyright reasons). Last but not least, several academic research programs have been recently launched in the US to measure the effectiveness of Imago Therapy with couples.
His first book, “Getting the love you want” (1988) presents a synthesis of these 4 approaches and has a practical Appendix explaining how to proactively develop one’s couple without a therapist. It was a best-seller in the US. In 1995, after his second book "Keeping the love you find" (1992), he published a short article on the essentials of theory and practice of IRT; one can read its French translation: see here (the original in English is unavailable for copyright reasons).
Last but not least, several academic research programs have been recently launched in the US to measure the effectiveness of Imago Therapy with couples.