About this course

Learning Objectives

• Explain the transactional model and identify the two core components that differentiate healthy from unhealthy relationship transactions.
• Describe the four levels of emotional intensity and identify which levels are optimal for collaborative conflict resolution versus requiring emotion regulation.
• List the three core components of relationship mindfulness and explain how each supports deescalation during conflict.
• Identify the six levels of validation and describe how to apply each level in therapeutic work with couples.
• Apply double chain analysis to assess couple conflict patterns and identify behavioral change intervention points.

Learning Levels

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Jasmine Dobbs-Marsh, PsyD

  Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

  Jasmine Dobbs-Marsh is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of relationship conflict, trauma, complex trauma, and borderline personality disorder. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium and her BA with Distinction in Psychology and Political Science from Stanford University. She completed her clinical internship at UCLA and her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. She provides supervision and clinical care within the DBT and DBT-Trauma Clinics at Stanford School of Medicine, where she also serves as Director of the DBT Couple & Family Program, which provides treatment to couples and families experiencing high conflict and persistent problems in relationship interactions. Her expertise in high-conflict couple and family work has garnered recognition across California with invitations to speak at UCSF, UCLA, Kaiser East Bay, Bay Area Trauma Recovery Services, and Veteran's Affairs systems throughout California. She is routinely sought out for consultation and cross-institutional collaboration by academic medical systems and private institutions and she has provided program development, faculty and clinician training and consultation; and organizational systems guidance to help programs develop their own high conflict couples and family interventions within outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential systems at The Camden Center San Francisco, The Camden Center Los Angeles, and the DBT Clinic at VA Pacific Islands. Dr. Dobbs-Marsh is a founding psychologist at Summit Psychotherapy Center, a boutique group practice specializing in the treatment of trauma across the spectrum and the management of trauma-related relational challenges.

Disclosure

References

• Bastos Jr, M. A. V., Braz, D. F., Porto, A. L. M., Cordeiro, K. S. D. S., Portella, R. B., & Granger, D. A. (2025). Physiological attunement and flourishing: understanding the influence of relationships on health. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1614379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1614379
• Fruzzetti, A. E. (2022). Dialectical thinking. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 29(3), 567-570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2022.02.011
• Fruzzetti, A. E. (2006). The high-conflict couple: A dialectical behavior therapy guide to finding peace, intimacy, and validation. New Harbinger Publications.
• Fruzzetti, A. E. (2018). DBT with parents, couples and families. In M. Swales (Ed.), Oxford hand-book of dialectical behaviour therapy. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Fruzzetti, A. E., & Hoffman, P. D. (2004/2020). Family Connections workbook and training manual. Rye, NY: National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder.
• Fruzzetti, A. E., & Payne, L. G. (2015). Couple therapy and the treatment of borderline personality and related disorders. In A. Gurman, D. Snyder, & J. Lebow (Eds.), Clinical handbook of couple therapy (5th ed., pp. 606–634). New York: Guilford Press.
• Fruzzetti, A. E., & Payne, L. G. (2015). Couple therapy and the treatment of borderline personality and related disorders. In A. Gurman, D. Snyder, & J. Lebow (Eds.), Clinical handbook of couple therapy (5th ed.), (pp.606–634). New York: Guilford Press.
• Fruzzetti, A. E., & Worrall, J. M. (2010). Accurate expression and validation: A transactional model for understanding individual and relationship distress. In K. Sullivan & J. Davila (Eds.), Support processes in intimate relationships (pp. 121–150). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Fruzzetti, A. E., Payne, L. G., & Hoffman, P. D. (2021). DBT with families. In L. A. Dimeff, S. L. Rizvi, & K. Koerner (Eds.), Dialectical behavior therapy in clinical practice: Applications across disorders and settings (2nd ed., pp. 366–387). The Guilford Press.
• Linehan, M. M. (2015). Skills training manual for treating borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford Press.
• Low, R. S., & Overall, N. C. (2025). Emotion regulation in couple relationships. In Research Handbook on Couple and Family Relationships (pp. 168-185). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Metcalf, M. A. (2025). Family systems dialectical behavioral therapy: A proposed clinical synthesis. The Family Journal, 33(3), 312-320. https://doi.org/10.1177/10664807241282333
• Rosenberg, M. B. (2015). Nonviolent communication: A language of life. Encinitas, CA. PuddleDancer Press.
• Shenk, C. E., & Fruzzetti, A. E. (2011). The impact of validating and invalidating responses on emotional reactivity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30(2), 163-183. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.2.163
• Shenk, C. E., & Fruzzetti, A. E. (2014). Parental validating and invalidating responses and adolescent psychological functioning: An observational study. The Family Journal, 22(1), 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480713490900