Tony and Belle have been married for decades. You could sense their love for each other but they didn’t get along—constantly fighting. Most things Tony...
05.022020January 23, 2020
Run Towards
Kathy wants to talk to her husband Billy about her stressors and process their relationship issues as needed. Like his family-of-origin, Billy avoids conflict. He...
29.012020January 23, 2020
Words Matter
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Communication, Communication Sequences
Couples have incidents and issues that they need to work through. Each time an incident or issue is unresolved, it builds up. It’s like dropping...
23.012020January 23, 2020
Difficult Conversations
Some conversations are more difficult than others. One of the easier conversations for couples to have is stress-reducing conversations. These are when couples talk to...
15.012020September 9, 2019
Repairs
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Feedback, Repairs, Responses
Dr. John Gottman’s research demonstrates the importance of not attacking or being defensive. This can prevent conflict from occurring in the first place. However, when...
08.012020September 9, 2019
Are We Incompatible?
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Compatibility, Fighting
Eric & Meg got into a big fight over something small when Eric questioned whether he and Meg were compatible. They were having conflict with...
18.122019September 5, 2019
Create Connection
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Connection, Friendship, Intimacy, Sharing
There are three primary ways couples connect with one another: sharing, doing, and being. Sharing can range from talking about one’s day, sharing stressful situations,...
11.122019September 5, 2019
Learning From a Debacle
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Accusations, Defensiveness, Escalation
I hadn’t seen Tim and Maura for a while, but they talked about how much progress they were making. Then Tim brought up a time...
04.122019September 5, 2019
It Takes Two
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Dissatisifactions, Feedback, Mean, Needs
Rob and Allison were high school sweethearts. Now in their early thirties, they were struggling for quite some time. Allison was spending a lot of...
27.112019September 5, 2019
Missed Opportunity
By Dr. Richard ReinIn Couples Therapy, Marriage Counseling, Relationship CounselingTags Communication, Couples Counseling, Interactions
I was talking with a colleague with whom I share a case (she sees the wife individually) and she talked about her approach to couples...