Healthy Relationships

09/22/13: I get asked a lot about what a healthy relationship is like, or is supposed to be like. The easy answer is that it looks different for every couple. However, I realized a long time ago that if we didn't grow up with parents who had wonderful ways of relating to one another, that there was virtually no where else to turn to find a healthy couple to learn from. This leaves the ways that happy and healthy couples relate as secrets that many of us don't get to experience. So I hope that the following article gives some general ideas on how healthy couples function, although the details will be up to each couple to fill in. Where This Comes From The following principles are a combination of four lines of research on relationships. The first is from something called relationship "minding", which was developed by Harvey and Omarzu (2011). The second is from the Gottman Institute, which studies how couples communicate and interact in positive and negative ways. The third is from current attachment research. The fourth is from Interpersonal Neurobiology, a field being created now by Daniel Siegel, among others. Before going any further, it would be a mistake not to mention things that happen in unhealthy relationships too. Missing some of the things listed later in this article is normal for anyone, however, there are a variety of things that indicate relationships that are unhealthy. These include verbal and emotional abuse (name calling, intimidation, threats, shaming, b...
Source: Staff Psychologist - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Tags: General Source Type: blogs