Most of us have many different types of relationships in our lives. For example, you can have a relationship with your partner or spouse, with your children, a relationship with your family members including siblings, parents, caregivers, or extended family members. You can also have friendships from childhood, new friendships you’ve established as an adult or in college, as well as professional relationships with your colleagues and peers at work. These relationships are all different. The way you experience a partnership is going to be different than a working relationship with your boss or manager. You may have several great relationships in certain areas of your life, but could also be experiencing some relationship issues in other areas of your life. At Couch Conversations Psychotherapy and Counseling, we understand that relationships are important and make up much of our lives. That's why our therapists are available to assist you in identifying which relationships may need a little work and how to work toward healthy and positive relationships in your life.

 

I Have Relationships. How Do I Know if There are Issues?

 

As you can see, different relationships could bring about different challenges. Most people think of relationship issues occurring with just their partners or spouses. Even if you are not in a partnership, you likely have a relationship with someone else in your life where you may be experiencing some issues. It could be difficult to understand relationship issues since relationships by nature mean that there are one or more other people involved. And it isn’t just about how you are thinking and feeling about a relationship, but also what the other person thinks and feels about you. It’s also important to note that issues coming up in one relationship (a partnership for instance) could impact other relationships (your relationship with your closest friend). 

 

Most people think of relationship issues as warning signs or red flags. These could look very different for different people, and often different factors including religion, culture and tradition could also play a role when understanding relationship issues. 

 

* The relationships we are talking about in these descriptions are about safe and healthy relationships that could use some work. If you are in a relationship with someone who is abusive, then it may not be safe to try to work through those issues and you may need to get out of that relationship. While we do not specialize in these types of abusive relationships, there are many resources available including www.thehotline.org for help on these types of abusive relationships. You can find more information on our resources page. 

 

How Does Therapy Help?

 

Psychotherapy could help relationship issues in many different ways. At Couch Conversations, we believe it is important for you to understand the nature of the relationship including your attachment styles to that person. Therapy with your Couch Conversations psychotherapist can also assist you in learning more effective tools and strategies for communication, expression of feelings appropriately, and finding ways to compromise and negotiate to find a middle ground.

 

It may be the case that you are seeking individual psychotherapy to discuss your relationship issues on your own. You may also be seeking couples counseling to work on issues together with your partner. Sometimes, people also come to therapy with a family member (mother and daughter for instance) and are seeking family therapy services to work on their relationships. Regardless of what format you are looking for to address your relationship concerns, here are Couch Conversations, we can help you find the right fit and assist you in working through your relationship issues. To get more information, CONTACT US below. 

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Learn more about Couples Counseling here.