Couple Dynamics & Conflict

Couples therapy pioneer Ellyn Bader and relationship expert Alexandra Solomon reveal how they’d work with a couple derailed by conflicts and chronic pain. Read more

More and more therapists are helping clients examine the emotional benefits and potential pitfalls of a prenup agreement. Read more

Poet Yung Pueblo helps us inspire relational change in our clients and ourselves. Read more

As a field, in our efforts to be neutral and nurturing, have we been unwittingly recreating the culture’s individualistic bias? Read more

When we’re tormented by resentment toward someone we believe has wronged us, forgiveness can be a form of self-care. Read more

We're all familiar with the pursuer-distancer dynamic, but are therapists missing the mark when it comes to helping withdrawers connect? Couples therapist... Read more

One of the world's leading couples therapists examines a major turning point in couples therapy—and the woman who spearheaded the change. Read more

By making sense of one another’s temperamental styles through an Enneagram lens, therapists can help partners understand their differences in a new way. Read more

Discover two models of love and how distinguishing between them can help therapists support clients in designing a conscious relationship. Read more

Concurrent couples therapy has advantages over conjoint therapy that get overlooked by many therapists. Discover 7 ways concurrent couples therapy can improve... Read more

How might a panoramic view of a relationship at the start of couples therapy change what clinicians focus on? Read more

Is teaching partners to join forces against their stress where all couples work should begin? Read more

When one partner is clearly in the wrong, being an impartial couples therapist can do more harm than good. Read more

The combination of therapeutic guides, ketamine, and community can open the door to deep, long-lasting relational change. Read more

From their new book, Fight Right, relationship experts John and Julie Gottman explain why some couples conflict will never go away. Read more

A therapist explains why it's so hard for partners to ask for what they need and how couples counseling can help. Read more

A clinical rupture becomes an opportunity to help a couple move beyond the pursue-withdraw cycle. Read more

The move beyond “Where do you work?” “How much do you work?” and “How’s it going?” is long overdue in couples therapy. Read more

Integrating a somatic focus into couples therapy can help partners address their deeply entrenched stuck points. Read more

When losing your spouse in a bookstore helps you find perspective. Read more

The choice for ambivalent couples is no longer binary: separate or stay together. Instead, therapists can help them craft formal yet flexible agreements... Read more

If you’ve done couples therapy, you’ve probably run into this conundrum at one point or another: one partner simply isn’t as invested in therapy as the... Read more

Longtime couples can still experience new, relationship-testing conflicts. Read more

When couples don’t have models for mastering healthy communication skills, they may regress to old gender scripts to cope, which can feel like its own kind... Read more

Current research indicates that we’re not walled-in, freestanding individuals. Our human brains—in fact, most mammals’ brains—are built for... Read more

Terry Real is on a mission: leading couples into increased intimacy by moving them beyond a culture of individualism. Read more

There’s magic in therapy—all types—the most astonishing of which only happens when you stop trying to put on a flawless show. Read more

Since the pandemic began, many of us have been meeting with clients virtually, peering into their lives through the window of a screen. But what happens when... Read more

Hendrix and Helen Hunt's new book, out this spring, lays out how clinicians can use Imago to help couples focus on what the authors call the... Read more

Discovering how ghosts and global issues have permeated relationship bonds in new ways. Read more