Because of the challenges in modern-day life, many people are having difficulty developing and maintaining strong, healthy relationships. Improving our relationships involves looking at family-of-origin issues, problems with self-esteem, negative patterns and communication issues.    This can help you to feel better about yourself and interact much more effectively with others.

Montclair couple coping with anger and negativity

A woman came to see me because her marriage was having great difficulty. They only had negative thoughts about each other. Nothing was ever positive.

The two were exhausted by the situation and very concerned about the impact on their children. They wanted the marriage to work, but could not find the way to do so. I helped her develop communication skills that she could use when going home.

We also discussed family-of-origin issues and why she had such negative thoughts about her husband.   We helped her to understand her role in creating negative interactions between them, and how to re-focus her efforts to improve their relationship with one another.  We helped her to regain perspective and see his strengths as well as their difficulties, and to approach their problems taking their whole situation into account.

The two worked on this different perspective and they learned to argue constructively with each other. Their relationship became a team effort where they could work together for positive results.