Have you ever felt yourself shutting down during an argument with your partner? Maybe you feel drained by their words, and you just want it to stop. Or perhaps you’ve felt your partner shutting down during an argument—and you feel angry, ignored, and unheard. What may...
relationships
“It’s Better to Bend Than to Break:” 6 Tips for Improving Compromises With Your Partner
Compromise in a relationship can feel like an uphill battle. If you give in and give up, you feel defeated. If you dig your heels in and refuse to waver, you feel guilty. Yet, Dr. John Gottman, co-founder of Gottman Method Couples Therapy, emphasizes that compromising...
Ask a Therapist: Does Premarital Counseling Mean My Marriage Is Doomed From the Start?
Dear Therapist, My fiancé and I are getting married this fall, and I suggested we do premarital counseling to strengthen our relationship. One of my married friends told me that they did premarital counseling and found it to be very helpful because they talked...
7 Affordable and Meaningful Gifts for Couples
Have you found the perfect gift? Does one exist? Gift giving has increasingly become more stressful and there has been increasing pressure to find the perfect gift. I’ve heard many couples in my office work through a conflict discussion around a seemingly haphazard...
Why You’re (Probably) Not Codependent
I first heard the term “codependent” as a counseling student in graduate school. I remember working with one of my first clients, who was going through a painful breakup at the time. I can still see her sitting across from me in that cramped university office, tears...