Relationship Therapy
What is it?
In friendships, families, romantic relationships, or sexual relationships- things can get messy. We think feeling emotionally connected to the people you care about is a vital part of the human experience and relationship therapy can help that connection happen more frequently and at a deeper level.
Relationship therapists work to balance the individual wants, needs, and perspectives within the relationship to help create a new sense of understanding and balance so that the relationship (and all of the members) get their needs met.
How do relationship problems Impact Relationships?
Sometimes relationships hit a rough patch. It could be a break down in communication, different values or goals, past hurt, or an inability to get unstuck. Whatever the particular case, it is likely that these kinds of conflicts can lead to feeling angry, isolated, depressed, anxious, or hopeless.
Continued experiences of relational difficulty can lead to separation or divorce, breakdown in effective family functioning, hurt feelings, resentment, or sexual dysfunction.
How can Therapy Help?
The goal of relationship therapy is to help get things back on track so that you and your family or partner(s) can go back to feeling emotionally connected and like you are on the same team working towards the same goals. Often, this requires exploring what each individual member is contributing to the relational dynamics, past experiences that may be unresolved or are contributing to the current experience in some way, and practicing new ways of communicating and interacting that create new possibilities and new outcomes.
You may work with the therapist individually at times, but relationship therapy is focused on what the relationship/family needs in order to be happy, function well, and support the needs of all of its members.
While your therapist will not be able to tell you if you should stay together or separate, they can help you to deepen your understanding of yourself and those close to you in order to help everyone learn how to better manage their own emotions and trust one another for support.
