Consensus Therapy: A Provisional Systemic Framework for Addressing Perceptual Misalignment in Couples

Perceptual discrepancies can contribute to couple distress when partners respond not only to one another's behavior but also to inferred intentions, emotions, and relational meanings that the other person may not endorse. This article presents Consensus Therapy (CT), a provisional systemic framework informed by research on Perceptual Agreement (PA) and subsequently developed through clinical work with couples. CT organizes intervention around five interrelated processes: identifying perceptual discrepancies, clarifying intent and emotional experience, checking partners’ representations through paraphrase, developing functional consensus while preserving meaningful differences, and translating shared understanding into workable expectations. The framework is designed for selective integration with established couple-therapy approaches rather than as a replacement for them. An actual, de-identified clinical case illustrates CT applied to a recurring pursuit–withdraw pattern in which self-regulation was interpreted as rejection and reassurance-seeking as pressure. Future research should examine the feasibility and measurement of session-level perceptual alignment, its relationship to broader PA, and whether explicitly targeting perceptual misalignment contributes to relationship outcomes.