relational life therapy

What a Couples Therapy Intensive Does Differently

What a Couples Therapy Intensive Does Differently

by Sara Stanizai, LMFT.

Most people who reach out to me have already done real therapy, sometimes for years, and can describe their relationship with genuine accuracy: the pattern, the roles, the whole shape of it. That was never going to be enough on its own. Here's the structural thing weekly therapy just isn't built to do, no matter how good the therapist is.

Why Couples Therapy Hasn't Worked Yet

Why Couples Therapy Hasn't Worked Yet

by Sara Stanizai, LMFT.

You can know exactly what's wrong with your relationship, be able to give a TED talk on it, and still be completely unable to stop it.

Most couples who sit down with me have already done the work of naming their own dynamic somewhere else, sometimes years of somewhere else. They know who pursues and who withdraws, they know what sets it off, and they're still stuck, because understanding a pattern and actually interrupting it in real time are two entirely different skills, and almost nobody ever gets taught the second one.

Here's what's usually going on underneath the fight you haven't been able to fix.