Articles

When Couples Fight: Understanding Out-of-Control Emotions

Emotions are incredibly complicated and it’s not uncommon for our emotions to get us into trouble when communicating with our spouse or partner. Have you ever said exactly the thing that you know will hurt your partner or make them upset? Chances are you have. Did it...

Anxiety Myths (Or What Your Anxiety Wants You to Believe)

The problem with anxiety is that it’s tricky and there’s a fair amount of misinformation out there. If you’re like many others who suffer from anxiety, there’s a good chance that your anxiety has convinced you of some fairly unhelpful facts. Add that to the...

Patterns of Communication: Back in that Old Stuck Pattern Again

How do we get so stuck in the same old pattern of communication and interaction again and again? We'll be taking a look at the role of communication pattern in keeping us stuck in relationship problems. This is the final post in a series that looks at the process by...

External Stressors: How Life Throws Us (and Our Relationships) Curveballs

Life can be difficult and that can obviously effect our relationships. This post is part of a series looking at the four main factors that get us stuck in problematic patterns of interaction and create arguments that come up over and over. External stressors work...

Emotional Sensitivities: How Emotional Hangups Hijack Our Relationships

How do we get so polarized and stuck in our relationships problems? This post looks at the way that emotional sensitives contribute to the development and maintenance of problems in intimate relationships. It is the second in a series of posts that look at the four...

Personality Differences as a Source of Conflict

How do marriage and couples problems develop and evolve? This blog post is the first in a series of four posts that will take an in-depth look at how problems develop in intimate relationships. Basically, it can be said that intimate relationship problems are caused...

Anxiety versus Fear. Normal Emotions or Horrible Reactions?

What is the nature of anxiety and fear? What is the difference? Are they normal human reactions that are helpful or horrible reactions that get in the way? Well, these two concepts are very closely tied to one another (in fact, anxiety is a fear response), but they...

Fighting Couples. What Starts the Fights?

What starts fights between members of a couple and what do they fight about? In the 1970’s a psychologist by the name of Don Peterson tried to answer this question. He found that typically there are four types of events that start or trigger arguments between...

Panic Attacks versus Anxiety Attacks… What’s the Difference?

Usually the terms panic attack and anxiety attack are used interchangeably in our culture. However, they actually refer to two very different but related things. To further complicate this matter, it’s not uncommon for mental health and medical professionals to also...