Relationships

The Rescue

Finding the Courage to Let Go

A whirlwind romance turns into a troubled relationship. Read more

How To Stop Couples Conflict Before It Even Starts

...And the Five Life Factors That Contribute to Intensifying Anger Arousal
W. Robert Nay

Therapy often involves entirely too much talking about new skills the client should put into place, but not enough rehearsing. Just as exposure training... Read more

Consensual Nonmonogamy

When Is It Right for Your Clients?

In past decades, the only alternatives to involuntary celibacy in a relationship were affairs or divorce. But more and more therapists are recognizing... Read more

VIDEO: Helen Fisher on the Truth about Adultery

Match.com's Scientific Advisor Weighs In

In a world of new and emerging norms about commitment, intimacy, the right to personal happiness, and open relationships are there also new patterns? Has the... Read more

The hallmark of John and Julie Gottmans’ work is taking the rare step of actually observing the broadest sample of couples they can find, rather than relying... Read more

VIDEO: Stepfamilies: Great for Parents, Grief for Kids?

Patricia Papernow On The Double-Reality New Stepfamilies Face

Patricia Papernow, an expert in working with stepfamilies, helps us understand the fundamental issues and unique hurdles most stepfamilies must navigate. Read more

Broken Heart Syndrome

Can It Run in the Family?
Gregory Samuels

Can broken hearts run in a family? Read more

VIDEO: Combining Trauma Treatment with Family Therapy

Making Sure Treatment Sticks Outside the Therapy Room

Far too often, trauma survivors appear to progress in therapy and then go home and fall right back into the same old patterns of negative emotion and... Read more

VIDEO: Julie Gottman on Making Couples' Life Dreams Come True

The Importance of Creating "Shared Meaning"

According to renowned couples therapist Julie Gottman, one of the main predictors of a romantic relationship's success or failure is how well partners can... Read more

Is It Possible to Divorce Well?

Three Buddhist Practices for Helping Partners Split Amicably

Three simple steps from Buddhism to help hostile spouses cultivate a spirit of nonviolence, generosity, and compassion toward their ex-partners. Read more

We all want to build strong relationships with our clients, but when working with adolescents, don’t overdo the empathy, says therapist Janet Edgette... Read more

VIDEO: When One Partner Wants Out

Discernment Counseling for the Mixed-Agenda Couple

In at least 30 percent of couples who come to therapy, partners enter the consulting room with different agendas---one wants a divorce, the other wants to save... Read more

Inside Hookup Culture

Are We Having Fun Yet?

On college campuses across the country, hooking up has all but replaced traditional, old-school dating rituals. With its rawness and frantic incoherence... Read more

The Sex-Starved Marriage

Practical Tips for Closing the Desire Gap

In a sex-starved marriage, one spouse longs for more physical touch or sex than the other, sometimes placing the marriage at risk of infidelity and divorce. Read more

Transforming Sexual Narratives

From Dysfunction to Discovery

Therapists too often ignore the importance of the longstanding, often unconscious stories that partners carry with them into their sexual relationship. Helping... Read more

Lessons from the Love Lab

The Science of Couples Therapy

The pioneers who birthed couples and family therapy never paused to scienti cally study the relationships they treated. Now, after systematically observing and... Read more

VIDEO: Overcoming Barriers to Self-Compassion

Tim Desmond on Self-Compassion in Therapy

In this video, Tim walks us through his process for engaging a client who’s resistant to self-compassion. It’s a great step-by-step example that will give... Read more

Putting Clients with Asperger's Syndrome on the Path to Success

How Adding Brain Science to Therapy Normalizes Living with Asperger's

Adults with Asperger's syndrome often behave as if they were confused actors walking onto a stage and being the only ones who don't know the lines or the plot... Read more

We’ll Never Be Here Again

Stopping to Listen on a Late-life Passage

Jim and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to the Pacific Northwest. We travel differently than many of our friends, avoiding... Read more

Brave New Couples

What Can Science Tell Us about the Changing Face of Couplehood Today?

Susan Johnson, developer of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, discusses what the science of love says about what couples can expect when they rebel too much... Read more

Addressing Race Therapeutically in Black Relationships

Testimonials from the 2015 Psychotherapy Networker Symposium

Today I attended a workshop called “Working with Black Couples: Overcoming Myths and Stereotypes,” led by Dr. Christiana Awosan. Being an African American... Read more

VIDEO: Men and Intimacy

A Relational Approach to Helping Male Clients

According to Patrick Dougherty, the biggest problem men have in psychotherapy isn’t that intimacy and the language of emotion is such foreign territory, but... Read more

Larger than Life

Marianne Walters Was Family Therapy's Foremost Feminist

Marianne Walters didn't invent a brilliant new therapeutic paradigm, publish a large and magisterial body of research, or establish her own unique school of... Read more

Reinventing Couplehood

Intimacy and Commitment in the Age of Consumer Marriage

Esther Perel, a couples therapist whose TED talk has had more than 5 million views, believes that it’s time to challenge the mismatch between the romantic... Read more

What’s the true nature of your feelings for your lover? An honest answer to that question is what a therapist needs in order to help a couple decide how to... Read more

Rocking On!

From grief to rebirth

A daughter marvels as her mother goes from grief to an exuberant rebirth. Read more

It Takes One to Tango

You Don't Need Both Partners to Do Couples Therapy

You don't need both partners to do couples therapy; working with individuals isn't impossible, it's just based on different premises. Read more

Passionate Marriage

Helping Couples Decode the Language of Their Sexuality

How couples behave in bed is a remarkablv authentic expression of their emotional connection-or lack of it. Read more

Side By Side

No creative artist is an island

An investigation of some of history’s most famous creative teams leads to the conclusion that no artist is an island. Read more

VIDEO: Beating Relapse to the Punch

How to Preempt Anxiety Relapse

Before David Burns wraps up therapy with recovered clients, he makes sure they’re well prepared for relapse. In this brief video clip, he breaks down the... Read more