Mary believes that her husband John is having an affair because he has become increasingly distant,disinterested in romance,and works late.John is in charge of an important project at work that is running behind and causing stress.Mary asks her daughter if she has noticed anything different about her father,and when the daughter mentions it to her father,the father tells her to tell her mother that he cannot deal with her insecurities right now.After establishing a therapeutic relationship,which initial intervention by the nurse therapist would be most therapeutic?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Pointing out that the parents share a common feature (that they are hurting,are in distress,are overwhelmed by their stress)can help reduce the tension between them by demonstrating that they are not necessarily in opposition but similar to each other.Asking them what they would like to change in each other invites finding fault and focusing on negatives,which would increase their stress and conflict,likely increasing their triangulation.Asking their daughter to confront them with the effects that triangulation is having on her would similarly increase their stress and tend to intensify the triangulation.Although communicating directly rather than through the daughter is desirable,they are doing this because of their stress and the instability in their relationship and cannot simply "stop it";instead,the root cause (discord and anxiety)must be addressed.

Mary Believes That Her Husband John Is Having an Affair