evidence-based Therapy
for Anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and Relationships
Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT)
Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) is an evidence-based approach that helps couples move beyond chronic conflict, emotional distance, and recurring misunderstandings.
IBCT supports couples in:
Identifying and interrupting painful patterns of conflict, shutdown, or defensiveness
Understanding the emotional vulnerabilities and histories that fuel reactivity
Promoting acceptance of core differences while encouraging meaningful change
Enhancing emotional intimacy, responsiveness, and mutual understanding
Building collaborative tools for navigating challenges as a team
More About Integrative Behavioral Therapy (IBCT):
Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT) integrates traditional behavioral change strategies with acceptance‑based interventions to address both solvable and intractable relationship difficulties. Grounded in a functional analytic model, IBCT conceptualizes distress as the result of rigid patterns of interaction, emotional sensitivities, external stressors, and unresolved differences that couples struggle to manage. Rather than trying to eliminate all conflict, IBCT helps partners develop greater emotional acceptance, increase empathy, and build practical skills to navigate disagreements more effectively. This balanced approach encourages partners to develop a deeper understanding of and empathy towards one another, which allows for greater willingness to accept one another’s differences and more flexible responding to one another’s needs.
The therapeutic process begins with a thorough assessment using the DEEP analysis of interaction patterns, identifying each partner’s contributions to the conflict cycle. The DEEP analysis is a conceptual tool used to help therapists and couples understand the underlying sources of relationship conflict. DEEP is an acronym that stands for: Differences, Emotional sensitivities, External stressors, and Patterns of interaction. Each component offers a lens for understanding what fuels conflict and keeps it going:
Differences refer to stable, often unchangeable traits or preferences (e.g., introversion vs. extroversion, parenting styles, cultural backgrounds). These are not inherently problematic but can lead to friction when misunderstood or rigidly opposed.
Emotional sensitivities are vulnerabilities shaped by past experiences (such as trauma, attachment wounds, or family history) that make certain situations or behaviors feel especially painful or threatening.
External stressors include pressures from outside the relationship, such as financial strain, health issues, work demands, or caregiving responsibilities. These stressors can amplify conflict by reducing emotional resources and resilience.
Patterns of interaction are the cyclical, often automatic ways partners respond to each other (such as withdrawing, blaming, or escalating) that maintain and reinforce distress.
By identifying and naming these elements, the DEEP analysis helps couples gain insight into the complexity of their struggles, moving beyond surface-level arguments to a more compassionate and systemic understanding. This clarity sets the stage for both acceptance and change.
Acceptance‑oriented interventions include “empathic joining” and “unified detachment.” Empathic joining helps partners share vulnerable emotions underlying their conflict in a way that invites empathy and connection rather than defensiveness. The therapist guides each partner to express softer, primary emotions beneath the anger, blame, or frustration that often dominate relationship struggles. Unified detachment helps partners take a step back from emotionally charged conflict by developing a more objective, collaborative view of their relationship dynamics. Partners are encouraged to observe their patterns of interaction — almost like researchers studying a system — so they can understand what is happening between them without immediately getting pulled into why or who’s at fault.
While acceptance-based strategies foster understanding and emotional tolerance, change-focused interventions in IBCT offer concrete tools for creating observable shifts in how partners relate to each other day-to-day. Common change-focused interventions include behavioral shaping, communication training, problem-solving strategies, and behavioral agreements. These interventions target specific behaviors that contribute to distress and replace them with more constructive alternatives.
Empirical studies demonstrate that IBCT produces significant, durable improvements in relationship satisfaction, communication quality, and emotional intimacy across a wide range of couples, including those facing long‑standing or chronic stressors. IBCT offers a comprehensive framework for strengthening couple bonds and promoting lasting relational well‑being.
IBCT is an evidence-based couples therapy model that helps partners move from conflict and disconnection toward empathy and collaboration. At Rise Psychology, Dr. Lauren Helm uses IBCT to address longstanding patterns and support meaningful, lasting relationship growth.
