"A therapist treated two couples with mother-in-law problems over the course of 7 to 9 individual and couple counseling sessions, using the techniques of MRI and Bowen’s family systems theory. These techniques included helping raise the clients’ awareness regarding differentiation of self, instructing the clients in new communication methods, and shaping therapeutic coalitions. The therapeutic work was studied using grounded theory’s constant comparative analysis, and involved within-case and cross-case open coding. The analysis distinguished stages of differentiation of self, the husbands’ difficulties in achieving such differentiation, and the therapist’s intervention techniques involved in treating the problems.
The study revealed three main responses on the part of the husbands for coping with conflict between their wives and their parents: taking sides with their own mother, embracing a traditional filial piety ideology, and attacking their wives. The husbands’ readiness for change was distinguished in terms of stages: pre-contemplation stage, contemplation stage, resistance stage, and trial stage.
Key words : MRI, Bowen, differentiation of self, stages of change"