A familiar moment in human-services work: the second hour of an afternoon session, one partner tightening at the shoulders, the other looking somewhere just past her ear. The clinician can feel what has shifted in the room — the empathy that brought her into this work is fully present. The question, as it tends to…
By 2024, online therapy had moved from emergency option to default category for many couples. The question that persisted under all the convenience — does the format actually work as well as the in-person version — was being studied even as couples were already using it. Some of the recent answers, including a 2024 Norwegian…
Given enough years, the unlikely tends to happen. A serious illness arrives. A parent slips into decline. A career bends in a direction nobody predicted. Most relationships meet at least one of these, and many meet several. The capacity to keep moving through them, and to stay turned toward each other while doing so, is…
It is Tuesday afternoon, and a clinician in private practice sits across from a couple who have been coming for six weeks. One partner is in tears; the other has stopped talking. The therapist, who trained a decade ago in a general modality, can name exactly what is happening in the room — escalation, withdrawal,…
She was stirring her coffee for the fourth time when she realized she hadn’t taken a sip. Her phone sat face-up on the table, and her eyes kept flicking to it as if it might ring itself. Two weeks ago she hadn’t known his name. Now his name was the weather inside her head. There…
“Enjoy sex with your own wife. May the wife that you married when you were young continue to give you joy. May she be as pretty and beautiful as a young deer. May her breasts always make you happy. May she love you in a way that gives you joy.” (Proverbs 5:18-19) Pornography is sneaky…
Unable to conceive, Hannah longed to be a mother, carrying the burden of childlessness. In her desperate sorrow, she surrendered her son-to-be to God, entrusting his upbringing to a priest known for his evil sons. “And she made a vow, saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if You will only look on Your servant’s misery and remember me,…
Recognize whether you are depressed, understand how it impacts your relationship, and how to deal with depression. The post Am I Depressed? appeared first on The Gottman Institute.
Have you ever been told, “You’re too needy”? It usually doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s you trying to talk about something that felt off and hearing, “Why are you making this such a big deal?” And suddenly, you’re not talking about the issue anymore. You’re wondering if you’re the problem. Being told you’re “too…
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 55:22 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 Knowing when to let go of a fragmented relationship is a serious decision that requires God’s wisdom. You can…