Couple’s Therapy

What do you do in Couples Therapy?

Through building effective communication, problem solving and conflict resolution skills, my couples learn how to enhance the relationship and add fresh meaning to “being a couple”. Sometimes, the focal point of the therapy is to provide permission to end the relationship. My work focuses on enhancing communication, deepening intimacy, understanding self-esteem, looking at sexual problems, delving into parenting and adoption questions, investigating pre-marital and dating concerns, opening up conflict resolution difficulties, dealing with life cycle issues, and, when appropriate or unavoidable, preparing for separation and adjusting to divorce.

What are the benefits of couples therapy? 

Couples therapy focuses on the problems existing in the relationship between two people. It is important to note, however, that these relationship problems always involve “individual” symptoms and troubles, as well as the “relationship” conflicts. Discordant issues are readily identified and together we look at the essential changes that are needed for the relationship to progress. Using the systems approach, we explore together the influence and impact of each family of origin and the individual’s psychodynamics to discover where change can happen. I help couples learn how to communicate more effectively, listen more closely, validate each other, twin together, and be empathically attuned to one another. Couples learn to appreciate the importance of not internally competing, pinpointing common life goals and sharing responsibilities within their relationship.

This process is very similar to individual psychotherapy; often it is more like mediation; sometimes, it is educational. Yet, it is the combination of these three constituents that makes it effective.

In my role as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I work with dating, engaged, living-together, married and divorced traditional, gay and lesbian couples.

When to seek help

• Affair or betrayal
• Lack of mutual sexual interest
• No special “dates” or time together
• Little interest in your partner’s life