te their hierarchical structure, a
great deal of help and support can become available to the individual
couple in times of trouble from those with whom they share a common
corporate life.

It may well be that the new "life styles" being experimented with
today--mate-swapping, multilateral marriages, and group marriages, for
example--represent attempts to enable the individual marriage to break
out of its isolation and to gain better communication, interaction and
needed support from other marital units.

A striking illustration of this trend toward deep sharing between
married couples has come to our notice from an unexpected quarter. Two
married couples from a conservative Christian background decided to meet
and talk together, with complete detailed frankness, about their sexual
experiences. A series of such meetings was held, the conversations
taped, and subsequently published in book form.[D] The couples, after
careful consideration, decided not to hide behind a cloak of anonymity,
but to use their real names and disclose their identity.

Confronted with this new trend, we take the view that the taboo against
the sharing of husband-wife experiences between one married couple and
other married couples can with impunity be relaxed in appropriate
situations with benefit to all concerned. Between such couples the
development of great warmth, empathy, mutual understanding and support,
can contribute significantly to the enrichment and growth of the
individual marriages involved. This is essentially what happens in
marriage enrichment retreats.

COMPARISON WITH THERAPY AND ENCOUNTER GROUPS

"How do our marriage enrichment groups differ from group marital therapy
on the one hand, and from encounter groups on the other?" These
questions are raised by many people. What are the answers?

Group therapy for married couples is now widely available, and its
effectiveness has been established. Our marriage enrichment groups
differ from therapy groups in three important respects.

First, marital therapy is undertaken with couples who have serious
problems, often because the individuals concerned suffer from
personality disorders. When marriages are not stable a good deal of
pathology may emerge in the course of group interaction. Severe
conflict between husband and wife may have to be permitted to surface
and be handled openly by the therapist.

The second important difference is that therapy groups generally
continue