Important Intervention
The most important intervention for this couple was restoring trust and rebuilding their marriage. Now that Lisa and Mark could communicate constructively and handle difficult topics and conflicts well, it was time to talk about what had happened and how to restore trust. Lisa was worried that trust could never be restored after a betrayal of such magnitude.
Dr. Squyres Groubert provided education about restoring trust. She recommended that they both read John Gottman’s book The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples during the evenings when they were apart. She asked them to discuss what trust meant to them. She explained that there are many different types of trust, and that it is unreasonable to expect complete trustworthiness in all areas. This was surprising to them.
Different Types of Trust
The list of the different kinds of trust that were important to Lisa and Mark encompassed:
