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Struggling with family dynamics this holiday season? Explore practical strategies for navigating the holidays after going no-contact with family—or if they've gone no-contact with you. This blog offers insights on self-care, setting boundaries, and finding meaningful ways to celebrate the season.

Postpartum depression, also known as PPD, is a common condition affecting over 3 million women in the United States each year. PPD is more intense and longer-lasting than the also common “baby blues”, which are general feelings of sadness occurring within the first few days after having a child. In some cases, postpartum depression doesn’t…

Psychologist Erik Erikson postulated that human beings have certain inalienable developmental tasks that are associated with each stage of our lives from crib to grave. These stages, he suggested, are binary and that we either “successfully” accomplish a given stage or we become entrenched in a form of “arrested development” as we encounter…

Many couples can become entrenched in negative cycles, power struggles, or difficult feelings that arise during the course of their relationships. The good news is that you are not alone. On the road to true intimacy, trust, and connection, relationship friction is considered normal and even a necessary part of a viable relationship process. What…

Entering a new relationship? Take some time to think about the boundaries and expectations you may want to set when dating.

Are your actions getting in the way of intimate partnerships? Read our blog for some indicators that you may be sabotaging your relationship.

If you've tried to have a conversation with your teenager but received nothing more than a single-word answer or a non-verbal shrug, these 5 tips may help you engage your teen in more meaningful conversations.

Marriage is one of the most important relationships you'll have in your life. As such, it requires time and nourishment. Here are 3 ways to strengthen your marriage.

Struggling to get alone time as we spend more time from home? Check out our tips on how to get away from each other and how to talk to your partner and roommates about needing space.

Louis Laves-Webb discusses signs that may indicate emotional neglect in your marriage, as well as tips for how to improve this aspect of your relationship.

Deciding whether to continue or end a relationship after an affair can be difficult. There's a lot of factors that should be taken into consideration when making that decision. We discuss some of those in our latest post.

Going to your first therapy session can be intimidating. If you’re considering psychotherapy for the first time, the process can feel a little mysterious. My aim is to demystify it a bit. Let’s explore topics ranging from choosing a therapist to common experiences after your first therapy session.

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which one individual of a couple makes the other question their own thoughts, feelings, and even sanity. Learn more about what it is, how to detect if it's happening to you, and how to stop and escape it.

Abuse and abusive relationships can cause great damage to one’s self-esteem and can cause heavy tolls on the confidence needed to enjoy life. To properly understand the elements that come into play in abusive relationships, it’s necessary to understand the wide varieties of abuse that can take place.

Emotional unavailability can cause concern between a couple in a relationship. Here is some advice on how to deal with a partner that exhibits those signs.

Here are some steps you can take to help you regain your confidence, get stronger, and find your footing once more after a breakup.

Here are three different types of traits to look for and practice in your daily lives to help cultivate a healthy, lasting friendship.

Often breakups are seen as a source of negativity, but experiencing this passage can provide you with genuine opportunities for growth and self-examination.

Relationships are made up of a variety of elements, which include time, energy, and dedication. Having a positive mindset allows for you to enjoy the rewards of a relationship, which is why it’s recommended that you prepare yourself for a relationship at your own pace.

Building a lasting relationship takes a good amount of dedication, and adding distance into the equation could result in some challenges that will have to be overcome as a couple.

The psychological reward we receive from the affirmation that we have made a judgment or decision that is “right” can be profound and habit-forming. Conversely, it can be deeply upsetting to be proven wrong or to make a decision that has resulted in a particularly negative consequence.

If you have ever unwillingly put your needs behind someone else's, this is for you. This is a real case study of a woman who was a people pleaser.

The idea of couples counseling, can evoke feelings of concern, angst, and hope. We hear some common myths surrounding couples counseling; myths such as: “It’s too expensive,” “Couples counseling won’t help us,” or “It’s not worth the time.” To help offer a more informative viewpoint, we put together an infographic to assist clients in determining if couples counseling may be of benefit to them.

Our primary relationships can be one of the greatest sources of fulfillment, creativity, love, and connection that we can experience as human beings. These relationships are a continual exercise in subtle negotiations, empathic connection, and our ability to stay connected. They can contribute to some of our greatest experiences of love and evoke some of our most profound experiences of fear.

Attachment theory is based on the assertion that the need to be in a close relationship is embedded in our genes. Our first experience of this is with our primary caregiver. It is at this time that we experience our most influential attachment relationship.

Heather Lynn Temple of mindbodygreen.com recently wrote an interesting article on why someone might be unintentionally sabotaging relationships with people treat them well.

Despite the “in your face” headline, Dr. Paul’s article contains a tremendous amount of depth into the reasons of why someone might need relationship help. Surprisingly, much of it had to do with self; specifically, the concept of self-abandonment.

The world has been letting us know that Valentine’s Day is on the horizon since the moment New Year’s Eve ended. Walk into any grocery store or pharmacy and you’ll be bombarded with red and pink balloons, stuffed animals, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. For some, it’s a lovely reminder of the special person in their lives. For others, it brings on a pang of sadness.

Conflicts arise in every relationship, and most of us have walked away from an argument with a partner wishing it had gone better. Maybe you said something you didn’t mean or you completely shut down and didn’t express your feelings at all.

All long-term relationships are tasked with the challenge of negotiating problems as they occur in the relationship. Many of the problems are situational in nature, however some may be more perpetual.

No two relationships look the same, but there are several characteristics that can help you determine if your relationship is on the right track or if it needs improvement. Whether you’re in a new relationship, an established partnership, or still searching for the right person, it can be helpful to know what makes a relationship healthy.

Listening is a balance of hearing the content of what someone is sharing, as well as listening to the emotion surrounding what is being communicated. Quite often mis-communication happens when either one or both of these forms of expression are not entirely heard. When considering improving your communication skills, start with enhancing your overall ability to hear both content and emotion. This effort may include increased emotional awareness, availability, and presence.

Coping skills, also sometimes called “coping mechanisms,” are tools that help us deal with triggers, anxieties, and stressors in our lives. In a sense, they are the ways we choose to comfort or calm ourselves. Each of us has our own methods for working through stressful, painful, or difficult emotions and experiences. Some of these methods are things we turned to naturally, and some have evolved from what we learned throughout our lives. Coping skills are something everyone uses, but sometimes we develop ways of dealing with difficulties that end up harming us in the long run–manifesting in addiction, avoidance, or bottled emotions.

When you're trying to understand your partner's emotions, the first thing, and the most prominent thing that couples come in to counseling for, is having a hard time communicating, and having a hard time with miscommunication. That's because communication can be really difficult. One of the things I would focus on is the ability to listen. Listening skills become really, really important in terms of really understanding our partner and being able to resolve conflicts.

Couples usually come into counseling when there's unhealthy patterns in their relationship that are leading to resentment, frustration, defensiveness, or loneliness. Counseling can help offer an opportunity to bridge some of those gaps, to work on communication, and to experience new ways of interacting with one another. Hopefully, when leaving counseling, you have the opportunity to grow closer together, to experience a deeper level of intimacy and connection, and to know one another in ways that you weren't able to know each other previously.