Julia Brannen and Jean Collard

Acknowledgements. New Preface for the Reissue. Introduction. 1. The Research Focus: Concepts and Ideas 2. The Project: Research Design, Methods, and Characteristics of the Group Studied 3. Attitudes to the Disclosure of Personal and Marital Problems 4. Marital Problems: The Ways They Were Defined and Attributed 5. The Context of the Help-Seeking Process: Critical Events and Problems 6. The Marriages and Their Social Networks 7. Informal Consulting and Social Networks 8. Formal Help-Seeking: Social Networks, Approaches, and Pathways 9. The Agencies: Perceptions, Expectations, and Initial Impact 10. Prescriptions for Counselling: Assumptions, Meanings, and Approaches 11. Perceptions of the Ideal Situations for Disclosure 12. Postscript. References. Index of Couples. Name Index. Subject Index.

First published in 1982, this title started as a study of clients with marital problems and how they came to seek help. Using a sociological approach to marriage, the authors compare the medical and non-medical settings the clients attended and looks at their social networks to see how people view and conduct their marital relationships.