The acceptance and utilization of couple therapy has increased enormously during the last decade. Whereas it was once the treatment of last resort, couple therapy is now the preferred mode of treatment for relationships in significant distress. There is no doubt that there is an increasing demand for this kind of therapy. Distress in an intimate relationship is recognized as the single most frequent presenting problem in psychotherapy.

Culture has been defined as the beliefs, assumptions, values, understandings, images, and symbols that guide a group’s thinking and behaving. Broadly interpreted, culture applies to individuals as well as to groups. It is useful to think of each individual as having a personal culture, which is the product of a combination of ethnic, socioeconomic, familial, life-experience, and within-person factors. Thus, even individuals who come from the same culture will have different personal cultures. Indeed, the individuals’ personal cultures, like their personalities, are unique.

A couple always is composed of two individuals with different personal cultures. Differences in sex, age, biological rhythm, education, occupation, beliefs, values, norms, meaning systems, expectations, behavior patterns, pacing, coping strategies, and communication style are commonplace. Furthermore, each partner enters a relationship with a full set of values about couple and family organization, which involve such variables as: optimal boundaries; including such variables as frequency of contact; extent of involvement in one another's’ lives; interdependence versus autonomy; the balance of individual versus couple welfare; and the inclusion of others in the relationship. Individuals’ ideas about the nature of an ideal relationship often are implicit which in no way diminishes their powerful influence on the relationship.

When the couple experiences differences as being toxic to their relationship, assessment from a cross-cultural perspective focuses on each partner’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to these differences.

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