Therapy for Relational Stress
At our core we are herd animals, and when our romantic, friendship, family, or even work relationships suffer - so does our well-being.
Some common issues that I find bring people into therapy include being stuck in recurring conflict, people pleasing patterns, feeling disconnected from loved ones, trouble establishing new relationships, or struggling to grieve the loss of a relationship.
Therapeutic Approaches to Managing Relational Stress
The thing that’s incredible about therapy is that the relationship we ourselves establish is often helpful to working through relational patterns in other areas of your life. While we’ll primarily focus on the specific relationship or relationships that you’re concerned about, we will innately fall into certain patterns ourselves that will be valuable in understanding what you tend to get pulled into with others.
I usually pull from a few different therapeutic techniques:
Psychodynamic Therapy: We’ll explore unconscious patterns and past experiences that are influencing how you relate to others. Often, relational stress is rooted in early attachments or unresolved emotional wounds, and understanding these dynamics can help you break free from destructive cycles.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This approach helps you identify and change negative thought patterns that may be affecting your relationships. We’ll focus on rethinking assumptions and developing healthier ways of communicating and resolving conflicts.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Learning emotional regulation skills is essential for managing relational stress. DBT helps you balance emotional expression with mindfulness, allowing for healthier communication and conflict resolution.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Fostering acceptance of difficult emotions within relationships, while focusing on living in alignment with your values, can help you strengthen connections even in challenging circumstances.
Mindfulness Practices: By cultivating mindfulness, we can break the cycle of reactive emotional responses, reduce tension, and promote understanding and empathy in your relationships.
How Therapy Can Help You Manage Relational Stress
Relational stress often stems from unaddressed emotional needs, communication breakdowns, or unresolved conflicts. Therapy helps you gain insight into these issues, develop healthier relational patterns, and communicate more effectively. Together, we’ll work toward breaking cycles of stress and conflict, allowing you to build stronger, more connected relationships that nourish your emotional well-being.
Getting Started
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation. We’ll starrt to talk through the stuckness you’re seeing and talk about how we might work together.