Couples come to therapy for different reasons:
- inability to communicate without arguing,
- loss of trust,
- habits that bother one person or the other,
- inappropriate relationships with other people,
- struggles with sexual issues, or
- loss of interest by one or both parties.
Should you come to me, I will listen to your problems and begin the process of understanding those features that might most contribute to what bothers you and your partner. I’ll spend time listening to what’s helped you in the past and the strengths both of you now have to help you with whatever bothers you. I’ll ask each of you about your general health and medications you might be taking. I’ll also ask you about each of your pasts and how things that happened to you as you grew up might influence what’s happening now.
I will also listen to how you as individuals talk about your problems and your life. Often, individuals and couples have developed habits of thinking and talking that get in their way. Sometimes simply changing the way you talk about your problems changes the way that you think, feel, and act about yourself and the problems you experience.
In some cases, one or both of you may benefit by help from medications or individual therapy.
If medication might be helpful, I’ll discuss what I know about the medications and how they might help. I’ll always refer you to a medical doctor or other appropriate professional to check to see if and what medication might help. If individual therapy may be helpful, I’ll discuss options with you and encourage appropriate releases with additional therapists to make sure your individual therapy and your couples therapy is working together to best help you.