Blog Archives
Therapists talk a lot about the importance of open communication to cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship. One of the most common negative communication styles that can constrain a relationship is passive-aggression. Passive-aggression is the indirect expression of negative feelings. It is often a coping mechanism for feeling powerless or ashamed, and it is rarely a conscious choice to behave negatively.
We are entering that time of year where couples start to make plans for how they will spend the holidays, and this can spark conflict between partners. Depending on the length of the relationship, emotional ties to the holidays, and location of family, partners can find themselves with vastly different expectations and desires for how to spend time together over the holidays. Newlyweds may be struck with how difficult it is to navigate this time of year…
A significant part of couple therapy involves improving self-awareness. Because you cannot fix a problem until you are aware of its source, it is important to understand what drives you so you can better control your subconscious impulses. For example, people develop survival strategies during interpersonal conflict in an effort to protect oneself from a perceived threat. Common survival strategies include defensiveness, withdrawal, or counterattack. Partners are often unaware of these impulses in the moment and naturally…
Conflict happens in every relationship.It might be a small frustration, such as leaving dirty dishes in the sink. It could also be something much deeper, like a broken promise or an affair. These moments test patience and trust. When it comes to overcoming common obstacles to forgiveness, couples often struggle to move past anger and disappointment in order to reconnect. Forgiveness is not about pretending the hurt never happened; it’s about acknowledging it and moving forward. It…
Perhaps you’re a healthy eater and you’re in love with someone who orders extra sausage and pepperoni on his pizza. Or maybe you’re a neat freak who can’t stand it when your guy leaves piles of his stuff all over the house. What seems like no big deal at the beginning of a relationship can escalate into a deal-breaker once the honeymoon phase ends. Anne Brennan Malec, Ph.D., author of Marriage in Modern Life: Why It Works,…
You have said, “I do,” signed the marriage license, and perhaps even celebrated your wedding with family and friends. With all the hard work of planning and executing a wedding behind you, now is the time to sit back, relax, and enjoy life as a married couple, right? The truth, of course, is that this picture of newly wedded bliss does not come close to the reality that nearly all couples face as they embark on their…
Love stories often arrive wrapped in cultural slogans and social media soundbites. Those messages sound comforting at first, yet many of them create confusion and disappointment over time. Relationship myths affect how people approach intimacy, conflict, sex, and commitment, and those myths quietly influence daily choices. From our perspective as clinicians, these beliefs often block growth and keep couples stuck in patterns that feel frustrating and lonely. At Symmetry Counseling, our work focuses on helping people recognize…
Many people say that dating is difficult and unpleasant. Rarely do you hear someone express unbridled excitement about going on yet another date, and that is because for a lot of people, dating is hard work! It requires one to be vulnerable yet energetic and engaging yet quiet enough to listen to your date. Even the most confident people can feel overwhelmed and self-conscious given all the elements one has to balance in order to ensure the…
Sexual desire naturally fluctuates, but many partners and couples struggle to accept the inevitable fall in sexual frequency and desire following the initial romantic love stage of a relationship. Sexual desire often comes willingly and easily in the early stages of a relationship, and many couples are left unprepared to initiate more active efforts to maintain desire and sexual fulfillment in later phases of a long-term partnership. As a result, too many partners feel undesired and fall…
Depression is an issue that we are all too familiar with and hear about often in our culture. Recent studies suggest that nearly one tenth of the U.S. population has suffered from depression at one point in their lifetime. It is a pervasive issue, and so the primary symptoms of depression are known by most of us. We have a basic understanding that feeling sad, blue, hopeless, and unmotivated for a long period of time are some…