About 50% of first marriages end in divorce. For every marriage after that, the divorce rate only goes up. This means that, statistically speaking, your best chance is always to work out your current marriage. If you are considering divorce, but still have the slightest doubt about this course of action, try these two options… CONTINUE
Couples Counseling: Getting More from Your Partner
by James Robbins, Licensed Counselor and Relationship Expert Couples generally come to couples counseling wanting more from their partner. Maybe you want more quality time, more trust, more physical intimacy, more positive feedback. Whatever you’re wanting more of, you’ve probably expressed this to your partner time and again, in different words and with a variety… CONTINUE
Couples Counseling: Are You the Good One or the Bad One?
If I run into you in the checkout line at the liquor store, who am I to judge you for buying liquor? When you are in a committed romantic relationship with someone, both of you are, by definition, shopping at the same liquor store. Good One vs. Bad One When couples see me for couples… CONTINUE
You Get What You Give – Finding Happiness in Your Relationship
You want more from your romantic partner in your relationship. More time, more attention, more respect, more love, more understanding. How do you get your romantic partner to give you more of what you need and want? You give your partner more of what he or she needs and wants. Most couples go in the… CONTINUE
Is Marriage the Key to Happiness?
Study after study indicates that married people tend to be happier than non-married people. But this is a correlation–not a statement of cause and effect. You could assume that marriage makes people happy–or you could assume that happy people are more likely to marry. Whatever the case, I don’t suggest waiting on a relationship… CONTINUE
Is He a Serial Cheater?
by James Robbins, M.A., LPC Everyone makes mistakes. People who genuinely love and value their partners can still suffer lapses of judgment. Although infidelity can be incredibly painful, it doesn’t have to end a relationship. In fact, when an affair becomes known, this is often what prompts couples to seek a therapist and work… CONTINUE
How Couples Counseling Helps Couples Work Through Issues
Couples counseling helps couples work through their issues in a number of ways. For example, when most couples come to counseling they’ve experienced some issues, some struggles around communication, they find that they’re in some stale issues where they just go round and round in arguments. What we refer to in couples counseling are scripts… CONTINUE
Right Here, Right Now: Can You Show Me Where It Hurts?
by James Robbins, M.A., LPC In this exact moment, what seems to be the problem? Can you show me here it hurts? Money issues? I hear you. But right now, if you could triple the money in your bank account, what good would it do you? Would you be reading this on a bigger screen?… CONTINUE
Good Partner Bad Partner
by James Robbins, M.A., LPC “I don’t know why, but my partner changed. Around 2 years into the relationship, it’s like he/she became an entirely different person from the one I fell in love with.” As a couples counselor, I hear this all the time. In fact, it’s the rule rather than the exception in… CONTINUE
How to Win Arguments — Or At Least Lose Them More Effectively
A certain amount of arguing is essential to the health of any long-term relationship. If you’re not arguing with your significant other from time to time, your relationship may not be growing. At the same time, daily arguing about the same pet topic accomplishes nothing. How can you trade-in negative fighting with positive growth? Take a look… CONTINUE