Is Hating Your Partner Normal?
When I’m treating a couple in therapy and flashes of hate appear, I’m never worried. In fact, I’m more worried
Teenagers as Sitting Ducks
A recent article in The New York Times dramatically chronicles the quiet mental health pandemic we are undergoing as a
The Downside of Too Much Peace
I often think that fighting, when it comes to couples, gets a bad rap. First, let me say that I
Conflict Avoidance Can Be Hazardous To Your Mental Health
Fighting in a relationship can be exhausting. Who really wants to do it? Isn’t it much nicer to have peace?
The Magic of Finding Our Voice
“When did you lose your voice?”, I asked Paula. She said, “I know exactly when.” Paula didn’t realize that her depression had anything to do with her marriage. She thought she had a chemical imbalance. Until the therapy with the family, Paula didn’t even let herself know that she felt angry at being shut out by her self-assured husband. She had given up trying to get him to hear her, and her quiet despair and helplessness showed up as depression. As the therapy unearthed these patterns, she discovered her voice. Her mood lifted.
Relationship Imbalance Instead of Chemical Imbalance
For the last thirty years ago a story has been built up about depression that it’s caused by a “chemical
De-coding a Defiant Teen’s Message to his Family
I had seen the Franklin family for about three sessions on zoom, and I still didn’t really have a handle
Hope for a Hopeless Marriage
When this couple came into therapy, it looked like end-stage marital disease. They had been tearing each other apart for years and barely remembered a time when they were happy together. Then something happened in the session that totally turned it around
After The Affair: One Couple’s Recovery
Anyone who has experienced a cheating partner knows that this is one of life’s most painful experiences. Feelings of betrayal, hurt and mistrust can last a long time. But for those couples who use the affair to look at their relationship, the pain can, believe it or not, diminish greatly. It is replaced by a greater feeling of connection, often deeper than before the affair. The road is not easy, but for many, it is well worth it.
Bringing Life To A Dead Marriage
Curiously, one of the commonest causes of chronic marital dissatisfaction is the spouses’ tendency to be over-cautious with their partner. They have fights or disagreements, but don’t go far enough. So the patterns that can make a marriage feel dead stay stuck. Here’s a way to change that.