Ruth Benedikt Krauze offers Couples Therapy.
What is Couples Therapy?
We know that close connections with others can help us to weather the stresses of day to day life. But what happens when these connections break down, and how can they be reconsolidated? What happens when our efforts in fixing those relationships are based on strategies that do not work? Distance, and/or conflict, within a couple's relationship can be particularly disorienting and painful. Time and again, it is not the disagreement itself that is hurtful, but the despair that results from lost and endless attempts at fixing the relationship, which often only escalate the conflict. Partners in a relationship can learn much better relational strategies, and work towards common values and life goals. They can become each other's source of strength as they move through life, sharing in the happy moments and the joy, but also providing support to one another in times of adversity.
Why Couples Therapy?
Couples' Therapy is a way to find personal health and confidence through being ‘relational’ in one’s life. It is a path towards constructive dialogue and understanding of one self in the context of a relationship. It is a process where partners can learn about themselves, and learn about what triggers the significant other from the perspective of family of origin legacy. There may be paradigms and rules that we might have learned in our families when we were younger, and that we often bring into our current relationships. These patterns can often be played out in the current relationship, sometimes with negative consequences. It is about acquiring new, relevant, functional, and healthier strategies that bring respect and growth into the present relationship. Sessions take place in a confidential, respectful, private, and safe environment. My work is inspired from a Relational Life Therapy Framework
Couples come to Couples' Therapy for a wide variety of reasons and concerns, including:
>- Distance and sense of drifting apart
- Communication Difficulties
- Excessive Arguing
- Avoidance of Conflict
- Adjusting to the Birth of a Child
- Parenting Issues
- Extended Family Issues
- Blended Family Issues
- Trust Issues
- Infidelity
- Anxiety/Depression
- Addictions
- Intimacy Issues
- Separation/divorce issues
These types of concerns represent common stressors in the lives of many couples. At times, couples may feel overwhelmed with these kinds of pressures, and may not possess the strategies to deal with them. Their ability to seek and provide comfort and support to one another may be compromised. In addition, when the relationship is not sitting on a solid foundation, interactions can become extremely strained and painful. Partners can experience a deep sense of disconnect, anger, resentment, and insecurity in their connections. In short, they are likely to experience a sense of alienation, as opposed to feeling closeness, safety and comfort.
How Can Couples Therapy Help?
Through Couples' Therapy, partners can identify concerns and current tendencies of behavior in their relationship, and develop positive tools to deal with the conflict that invariably arises. Often, partners can reflect on their own legacy from their family of origin and identify patterns that can sometimes get played out in present relationships; they can work through these, and make choices about the future. In this sense, Couples' Therapy is an excellent place to work on many individual issues, and appreciate each other's world in the context of the relationship. Couples can learn new healthier patterns and develop a more ‘relational’ way of living. Ultimately, the hope of Couples' Therapy is to know one self in the present relationship, learn ways to repair the hurt, acquire new and powerful skills, so that they can respectfully negotiate the way they wish to proceed with their relationship. Couples may achieve a variety of goals, such as possible emotional responsiveness toward each other, hope for a future of togetherness, or even just a more functional and respectful way to deal with each other, regardless of what the circumstances might be.