Fostering Trust Through Relational Safety: Applying Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy's Focus on Gender and Power With Heterosexual Adult-Survivor Couples

ABSTRACT

Trust issues for adult-survivor couples, in which one or both partners experienced childhood abuse, can be significant due to gendered power disparities that erode trust as well as relational injuries as youths. Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) addresses couples' gendered power disparities. This longitudinal study analyzed videos and transcripts of 40 SERT sessions with four heterosexual adult-survivor couples and applied those findings to another four heterosexual adult-survivor couples, to develop grounded theory on how to work with trust, gender, and power issues. Three key relational processes were (a) gendered fear of being vulnerable, (b) unique gendered power approaches, and (c) distrustful reactions. Five key clinical processes helped couples establish relational safety: recognize gendered power's effects on relational safety, comprehend the socioemotional experience of partners, accentuate relational needs, initiate partners sharing power, and identify trustworthiness of partners.

KEYWORDS:

• Trust
• gender
• power
• heterosexual adult-survivor couples
• couple therapy
• grounded theory