Leaning In and Out of Couples Therapy

Usually in Discernment counseling a couple presents where one of them is “leaning in” and the other is “leaning out.”  The former wants the marriage to work and is invested in anything that will help.  The latter is ambivalent and somewhere along a continuum of being done with the marriage to considering reconciliation if some…

I’ve decided to write a bit more about Discernment Counseling, specifically another “hard reason for considering divorce:” substance abuse/addiction. To review for a moment, Discernment Counselors refer to hard versus soft reasons for considering divorce; hard reasons are considered the more challenging issues, which often lead to a divorce decision, as opposed to soft ones…

A bit more about my last post on the issue of infidelity and what makes it a “hard reason” for considering divorce” as opposed to a soft one.  To catch those readers up on terminology, I am writing about Discernment Counseling and hard versus soft reasons for considering divorce.  Hard reasons are considered the more…

I see a lot of couples in my practice.  Sometimes though rarely do both partners show up at the 1st appointment ready and interested in working on their relationship.  More often, 1 or both are ambivalent, are tired out, and are weighing the high stakes of dismantling the life they have built together.  They are…

I have been involved in a recent discussion with my AFTA colleagues about the culture of medication and “saving psychotherapy from the medication takeover.”  Regarding medication and couples therapy,  one of our Syracuse, NY thinkers, Dave Keith wrote, “medications are sometimes necessary, but rarely sufficient. Relationships are always necessary and sometime sufficient.”  Well put Dave!