Relationships

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

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

Can broken hearts run in a family? Read more

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

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

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

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

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

A sex-starved marriage isn’t about the number of times per week or per month people are actually having sex. It’s one in which one spouse is longing for... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Many therapists define the type of therapy they practice by taking a head count: if one person is present, they're practicing individual therapy; if two or... Read more

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

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

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

Push up against a resistant client, you get more resistance. Try a comforting, helpful approach, and you can undermine a client's motivation to act. So what's... Read more

How can a therapist cut through a couples’ intellectualizations, defensiveness, and ritualized use of language? The key is to bypass the language and explore... Read more

Barbara Fredrickson’s research on the biology of love and positivity demystifies our ideas about the role of intimacy, connection, and resilience in our... Read more

Susan shares the latest research that backs up the central principle of EFT Read more