Mike would do anything for his wife Candace and could be quite accommodating, but he also had a subtle manner of getting his way, insisting...
Author archive for: drrein
Mars and Venus
The best selling hard-cover nonfiction book of all time is Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. This reflects people’s...
Listen, Support, and Validate
Sue was emotional these days. Her father’s memory was beginning to fail him and she was feeling distressed. When she began to share her upset...
Liberace Glasses
Bruce and Cindy were vacationing in Palm Springs and walked into an eyeglass store. Bruce saw a pair of Maybach glasses for $14,000. He called...
Discovery and Recovery
Wendy checked out of her relationship with Alan. Alan wasn’t meeting her emotional needs and hadn’t for years. Any attempt to change this consistently ended...
Code 2, Aisle 2
In my first session with couples, I love to hear the answer to the questions of how they met and what attracted them. Typically couples...
Can’t you Take a Joke?
Tom was making a joke. When Judy responded negatively, he said, “Can’t you take a joke?” Instead, Judy found Tom’s “joke” insulting. A joke is...
Attacking Vulnerabilities
John & Dana disconnected over the years. In our marriage counseling session, John shared that he was seeing a therapist individually for years. Dana was...
Artillery and Bombs
Relationships can become battlefields. Criticism is launched horizontally. A partner intentionally or unintentionally attacks. When one is attacked, the recipient defends him or herself, and...
What Can I Do?
Paul and Kim talked about how snarky they were being with each other the last couple of weeks. When I inquired what was going on,...