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...
Author archive for: drrein
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...
Words Matter
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...
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...
Repairs
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...
Are We Incompatible?
Eric & Meg got into a big fight over something small when Eric questioned whether he and Meg were compatible. They were having conflict with...
Create Connection
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,...
Learning From a Debacle
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...
It Takes Two
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...
Missed Opportunity
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...