Search Results for: couples experiencing relationship trouble

Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships

…er the psychological ones that the authors believe are at the root of many couples’ problems. In Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships, Dr. Robert W. Firestone and his coauthors explore the dimensions of healthy sexuality and love. Drawing on their 40 years of combined clinical experience and a unique longitudinal study of couples and families, they propose that sexual problems are largely related to defenses acquired through painful childhood ex…

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The Fear of Intimacy

…ing the usual ways of thinking about couples and families. They argue that relationships fail not for the commonly cited reasons, but because psychological defenses formed in childhood act as a barrier to closeness in adulthood. While many people may not recognize their relationship concerns as the result of fear, this book provides an eye-opening account of how individuals defend themselves against achieving the utmost closeness and intimacy by a…

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A Definition Of Loving with Dr. Pat Love

…t of love and what it means to be loving. She discusses values in a loving relationship and offers tactile tips for couples on improving the quality of their relationships. Dr. Love also addresses the importance of equality in a relationship, sexuality, and what she has learned from her years as a couples’ therapist. Shifting her focus to parenting, Dr. Love offers her perspective on how to raise emotionally healthy children. “Parenting is simply…

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PTSD, Violence treatment, psychalive

Dr. Don Meichenbaum on the Application of Stress Inoculation Treatment for Individuals Suffering from PTSD

…one, sometimes, rather nasty things? And how do you use the ‘glue,’ — that relationship — as the basis for getting them to be a partner in treatment? So for instance in a handbook on treatment of individuals with anger control, that I have written, for instance, there is in the back of this an appendix on how to take an angry adolescent or adult and turn them into a social problem solver. So this is the kind of social discourse that can be used. W…

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Are We Still Condemning Women for Their Sexuality?

…nsibilities increase, and we often become involved in long-term, committed relationships. Three reasons are typically given for a woman’s decreased sexual desire at this stage in her life: marriage, career and kids. Yet, it isn’t just a lack of time or an influx of responsibility that disconnects us from our sexuality. Marriages and long-term relationships tend to deaden when each party pulls away from being close, attractive, attracted and alive….

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Ep 1: Why Do We Push and Pull in Our Relationships?

…r to this as the Pursuer/Distancer Dynamic. Recent research has shown that couples stuck in this mode are actually at the highest risk for divorce. In this episode, we discuss this common relationship problem with Dr. Lisa Firestone, who explains the source of this dynamic and offers practical advice for how each person in the couple can shift their own behaviors to break free from this frustrating pattern and ultimately create the loving relation…

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Are You Sabotaging Yourself?

…a result, we try to “stay in line” by engaging in actions and seeking out relationships that reconfirm these ideas. To counter these beliefs would challenge our core defenses and bring up a lot of the original pain the fantasy bond was designed to bury. If, for example, our goal is to find a lasting relationship, we may think we’re taking actions to meet someone who treats us with love and respect. However, we may find ourselves instead feeling d…

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A Framework for Cultivating Integration

…, individual self and then the linkage of this self to another. A balanced relationship is an integrated entity. Often people come for clinical help with relational difficulties; they find their connections with others filled with chaos or rigidity. Fighting, emotional outbursts, and impulsive and sometimes destructive behaviors can dominate a relationship. For others, or at other times, a stagnant quality of predictability and boredom fill the re…

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trauma covid-19 isolation

Dealing With Today’s Trauma

…on each other’s nerves. You’re going to realize you hate each other. Your relationship is going to fall apart. About your financial situation: You’re going to lose everything. You have no plan for this. You aren’t going to survive this financially! About existential fears: You’re going to get COVID. You’ve got some symptoms; you’re getting it. You’re going to give it to someone you love. You’re going to die. In general: You are failing at this. A…

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The Value of Depression

…t wouldn’t have to be the loss of a person, a job, financial security or a relationship. It might be the loss of youth, or certainty or a sense of comfort. If something precious has been lost, perhaps it would be healthy to spend some time experiencing the pain of that loss. How could the painful experience of loss be helpful? If I believe that all human faculties which have survived through the 30 million years of human evolution have to be usefu…

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