Search Results for: couples experiencing relationship trouble

What to Do When Your Teen Pushes You Away

…ds’ happiness, even when a child has grown up, moved out and gotten into a relationship. If we’re worried our kids won’t be responsible, hold a job or find a nice relationship, the biggest thing we can do is demonstrate responsibility in our own actions, behave in ways we respect and focus on having our own healthy relationships. If our child is rejecting us, we should still be warm, kind, patient and present, which facilitates an opportunity for…

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How is CPTSD Different from PTSD?

…past may be tarnishing a new relationship is paramount. Learning that some relationships harm, and other kinds of relationships heal, allows for a change. Unfortunately, as of June 2021, the diagnostic manual (DSM) for mental health includes only diagnostic criteria and codes describing PTSD. However, more therapists and mental health professionals are recognizing CPTSD as a separate condition that warrants specific treatment and support. What is…

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The Autistic Child and Social Isolation

…individuals, such as a romantic or intimate relationship or a parent–child relationship. Interpersonal relationships usually involve some level of interdependence. Interdependence is how people in a relationship tend to influence each other, share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together. What is being described here is the capacity between two individuals to relate to, care about and build upon one another’s experience. The…

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Why Are You Avoiding Intimacy?

…w up, these patterns go on to serve as models for how we expect people and relationships to work, and they influence how we relate in our close relationships. People who experienced a secure attachment had parents or primary caretakers who consistently attempted to meet their needs and were attuned to them, making them feel safe, seen, soothed, and therefore secure. As adults, they’re able to feel more secure in their relationship, balancing close…

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Sex Stereotyping

…re divisive, and interfere with our being intimate and loving in our close relationships. The social pressure exerted by these attitudes is as damaging to couple relationships as racial prejudice is to relations between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Each sexual stereotype confuses people’s thinking about the differences between men and women. These timeworn attitudes overstate the qualities that distinguish men and women, and place the t…

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The Loss of Pleasure: Attachment Relationship and Loss: A Conversation with Carol Gilligan

…ncing a loss that once felt irreparable. Rather than accepting the loss of relationship as inescapable, a healthier response is to feel the sadness and protest the loss. Otherwise, this leads us to the loss of pleasure, which is the marker of an initiation that is felt in the body and experienced as sadness and fear. You can hear this loss in the shift from a relational voice to the patriarchal voices of selfless femininity and detached masculinit…

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How Your Attachment Pattern Influences Your Life

…e relate to people throughout our lives. They help shape how we operate in relationships and how we expect relationships to operate. The attachment patterns we experienced inform the choices we make in our romantic lives, who we choose, how we behave, and even whether or not we stay in a relationship. This is why I often say that understanding our attachment patterns can literally transform our lives. For years, I’ve taught workshops, eCourses, an…

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Accepting “Good Enough” Friends and Partners

…r our independence, our forgiveness, and our appreciation of the other person. When we lose track of our compassion, we’re far more likely to write people off and potentially lose an important relationship. By being less judgmental, we find new ways in ourselves to nurture a friendship and thrive in a relationship, both as an individual and as a pair….

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How You Can Help Prevent a Suicide

…by recognizing some of the red flags that would indicate the person is in trouble. While there are long-term risk factors for suicide, there are also immediate warning signs that someone could be planning to take their own life. These include: 1) Trouble sleeping – How well you sleep represents your overall level of arousal. People who are suicidal are in an anxious over-activated state in which they are anxious and agitated, struggling with tole…

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VIDEO: Dr. Peter Levine on Somatic Experiencing Approach and Attachment

…Dr. Peter Levine. Dr. Peter Levine describes a case example of the Somatic Experiencing Approach in relation to a toddler who had trouble attaching to his mother. Dr. Peter A. Levine: One of the videos is work I did with a 12 or 14-month-old. He never really attached, he never molded and bonded with his mother. But his mother was, in Winnicott’s tems, “a good-enough mother.” She wasn’t, you know, a cold mother, she wasn’t an ambivalent mother. She…

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