COUPLES THERAPY
Bridging the Gap in the Relationship
Couple's therapy is the process of counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences and repeating patterns of distress. When engaging couples in therapy, a couple is asked to slowly peel apart the seemingly intractable problems within a relationship history. In unearthing deep problems, emotions are the target and the agent of change. The basic principles for a couple's therapy are: - To identify the repetitive, negative interaction cycle as a pattern - To understand the source of reactive emotions that drive the pattern - To expand and re-organize key emotional responses in the relationship - To facilitate a shift in partners' interaction to new patterns of interaction - To create new and positively bonding emotional events in the relationship - To foster a secure attachment between partners - To help maintain a sense of intimacy
Enhancing the Connection: Neurological and Attachment-Based Approaches to Couples Therapy
Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) The Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) is based on both neuroscience and attachment theory to improve interactions between couples. PACT aims to help couples notice their reactions as they occur and learn how to better address one another's attachment needs. Pragmatic Experiential Therapy (PET-C) Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples (PET-C), is a form of couples therapy which aims to help partners resolve relationship issues, reduce distress, develop emotional intelligence, and improve physical and emotional connections. This approach uses neurobiology findings and research conducted on intimate relationships to help partners identify areas that may need change and develop methods to foster this change. Both approaches utilize a step-by-step approach for couples that facilitates relationship change by promoting higher levels of neural integration in each partner. Partners will learn to identify various mood states which tend to perpetuate ones' thoughts, actions and modes of interactions. Once each partner understand the bio basis to their behaviors they are then assisted in transforming or re-wiring these states and are able to establish new ways of thinking and responding thus supporting their interactions within the relationship.
