A Peaceful Life’s Blog

What Will Kill Your Couples Therapy

October 13, 2015 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

Couples Therapy has a Killer.

A frequent problem we see for couples in our couples therapy practice in Denver is that it’s just so hard to see a way out of something when you are in the midst of it. Most couples wait an average of six years before entering couples therapy, and by this time there are a lot of stories that they really buy into. They feel like this is just the “way it is.” They are convinced that they have tried everything, and they probably have (until they get into couples therapy). The issues that have plagued their relationship have been going on for so long that they just seem like they are dead ends, and the couple may be pondering whether they are actually right for each other, whether they are “falling out of love”, etc.

This is called hopelessness, and we need to see it for what it is. It is an evil, energy sucking, distraction that sits on your shoulder and tells you that you shouldn’t even try. That you don’t have the energy to try. That nothing is going to change in your relationship, it’s not going to work. Hopelessness is a relationship killer for obvious reasons, but did you know that it’s a major barrier to getting effective therapy services?

Couples who are hopeless about their relationship often:

Don’t seek couples therapy, or don’t seek it in time.
Don’t do the internal work necessary to really look at the issues and create change, because they are already checked out.
Unwittingly sabotage the couples therapy or undermine their partner’s attempts to make positive changes by resisting them.

I think the most harmful effect of hopelessness on the relationship is that it becomes the lens through which we see everything. Your current state of feeling about the relationship becomes the filter through which you see all the issues and possible solutions. Like rose-colored glasses, but… not rosy. It’s the relationship is half dead phenomenon.

The trick is that you have to sidestep hopelessness so that it doesn’t rob you of the chance to improve the relationship. This is difficult since you need to see something positive to become hopeful. Unless you kill hopelessness.

It’s easy to just go along with the hopeless thoughts and not question whether they are even true. Many of our thoughts are not true, or at least are not the absolute, undeniable, unchangeable, fully objective truth. In couples therapy, there are a lot of things that challenge your perception of reality, because you are both deepening your experience of each other to create more understanding, connection, and trust. So why not start on that path before couples therapy by working on your hopelessness?

Here’s how to kill hopelessness:

1. Notice it.

Notice that you are having thoughts that things are pointless, or whatever your mind tells you about why this is just not going to work.

2. See it for what it is: a thought.

Thoughts are not always true, and even if they are, they aren’t always helpful. Realizing that, strong as they are, they are still just thoughts, can free you a bit to act (such as pursuing couples therapy even if you aren’t sure it will work, instead of using hopelessness as an excuse).

3. Ask yourself what’s scary about letting hopelessness go.

Is it protecting you from trying and getting hurt? From getting your hopes up? From showing that you are hurting?

4. Bring it out into the light of day.

Talk about the hopelessness with your couples therapist. Chances are, your partner is feeling some of that as well, and a good couples therapist knows that it’s there and wants to help you slay it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but as a couples therapist I just wish that I could kill hopelessness. It’s such a demon. It’s a symptom of the problem, not the predictor of whether the problem is fixable. And we can do a whole lot in spite of hopelessness if we realize that we are caught in its grips and don’t want to let it run the show.

If you are feeling hopeless in your relationship and just aren’t sure about whether couples counseling could help, we invite you to have a free consultation with one of our wonderful couples therapists in Denver (Lakewood) where you can chat about what couples therapy could do for you.

Do I Need Individual Counseling AND Couples Counseling?

September 2, 2015 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

I’ve noticed an increase in the number of people who call and ask, “Do I Need Individual Counseling AND Couples Counseling?” While there are times that this is needed, I’ll give the perspective that I have as a couples counselor on whether you should seek both individual counseling and couples counseling.

The Notion That You Need to Work On Yourself First Is Outdated and Blaming

One of the main reasons that people feel they may need individual counseling is that they think, or have been told by their partner, that they have “some issues” to work out. Sure, folks have issues. However, the majority of the time, unless we are talking about a serious mental health diagnosis or some other big stuff, it’s not a good idea to see your issues as something that you need to go off in private to work on.

Why is your relationship struggling? Is it because you have these issues that you can’t handle, and your partner is an innocent bystander being caught in the crossfire of your stuff? Or are you like most couples, where you both do things that result in the other person feeling hurt, unheard, angry, etc? The fact is that relationships can be a huge contributor to things like depression and anxiety, as well as anger and bad moods. Fights and distance can make depression and anxiety worse. Looking at these things outside of the relationship is like going to the doctor for knee pain and not bringing your knee. A LOT of things can successfully be addressed in the light of improving your most important relationship.

Plus, it makes it seem like you’re the reason your relationship is struggling. As a couples counselor, I know this is usually not true. And buying into blaming one person for what’s wrong in a relationship is, well, probably not helping the relationship.

The Notion That Your Partner’s Involvement Can’t Help You Heal Is Also Outdated

In the olden days, psychoanalysis was an individual pursuit. The field of relationship therapy came out of a response to seeing that our loved ones are the biggest source of both our pleasure and pain. Not including them really denies how powerful the bond with your loved ones is in helping you cope.

There are things that we bring into a relationship that are bigger than the relationship itself. Things like depression, anxiety, past trauma, these are all things that can feel like a huge barrier to us being able to be really present and show up in our relationship in a way that creates closeness instead of distance or fights. Being able to explore some of how this impacts your relationship, with your partner in the room, can really help them understand what’s going on, and how they play a role (positive or not) in the interactions between you.

There is some research being done that is pointing to the healing power of the relationship for things like addictions, depression, and trauma. There’s even evidence that we feel pain and fear more intensely when we don’t have the comfort of our partner (if the relationship is strong). Things that have traditionally warranted a solely individual approach can be folded in with the couples counseling in powerful ways. And working on improving the relationship has incredible benefits for your individual coping and resilience. Win-win. Many of these things do require individual counseling as well, but we prefer to suggest that you start with couples counseling before adding individual counseling.

Why We Suggest Starting With Couples Counseling First

Instead of jumping feet first into several types of counseling at once, we suggest starting with couples counseling for several reasons:

It gives the therapist a chance to assess the situation and help you decide if it’s indeed true that you need extra individual support from another therapist doing individual therapy.
Your couples therapist can help you find ways in which the individual therapy and couples counseling are going to compliment each other. You can choose an individual therapist that works from a relationship point of view. Some types of therapy can accidentally undermine your couples work by giving you contradictory advice, such as to deal with your emotions by yourself instead of learning how to respond to becoming upset with your partner in the moment, with them there. We really like to set individual therapy clients up with another practitioner who also does couples therapy right here in our practice. This way, you know you will be complimenting both your individual and couples therapy by addressing things in both types of therapy in ways that make sense together.
It prevents you from starting too much counseling at once. This can be counterproductive and confusing.
It gives you, as a couple, a good first glimpse into all the things that you’ll be able to accomplish with couples therapy. This helps get you off to a good start where you are both seeing your own role in the relationship issues, rather than one partner being pre-labeled as the “one who really needs the therapy.”

Do I Need Individual Counseling AND Couples Counseling?

Hopefully this has given you some glimpse into how we approach this, but this is a good question to ask any counselor that you are considering seeing. If someone absolutely says that you shouldn’t do couples therapy until all of your individual issues are resolved, you can run screaming for the hills. And if you ask a couples counselor this question, you can get a good glimpse into how they work and what their approach is.

Disclaimer

There are some instances where couples counseling is absolutely not a good idea – such as when there is physical abuse in the relationship, or when someone has active addiction that is so strong that they are not yet capable of interacting in a meaningful way in therapy. (However, both of these situations also need assessment because they aren’t black and white, so it’s still best to contact a qualified couples therapist to get assessed).

Empty Nest and a Full Marriage

August 23, 2015 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

By Kristy Vergo

With all of the recent high school and college graduations happening around me recently, I can’t help but ponder the effect this has on the empty nest parents of the graduate. Your marriage or partnership is a living thing, and when it goes from including children on a daily basis to not including children, it can be a big time of change for your relationship.

For some couples, there might be a sense of relief as their child graduates high school and thinks about going away to college, because now they have privacy, quiet, and fewer time demands. This may elicit feelings of freedom, as it creates space for all of the things that they would like to do.

On the flipside, there may be some worry; now that they don’t have kids to focus on and school schedules to keep, they may feel bored or empty. Many couples struggle with how to reconnect once the kids are gone. When you both miss your graduate, how can you get used to it just being the two of you again?

1) Notice and be honest about your feelings, not only with yourself, but with your loved ones. It’s OK to be sad, angry, happy, and anxious all at once. Ever heard of what you resist, persists? Different stages of family life are both joyful and sad, we need to let ourselves be human and experience this.

2) Offer an ear and a heart to your partner in their feelings. You might not be on the same page at all times. One feels relieved to have an empty nest, and the other feels sad. Make it OK for you to each have these different feelings, and create a space where you aren’t feeling these things alone.

3) Know what to expect. You may move through mourning the end of your parenting years, then recovery, and finally, renewal. Your partner and you may be having a tough time, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t rediscover each other and build a new, enriching phase of life. This is a big change, it will come with lots of ups and downs.

4) Look for ways to connect. As social creatures, humans are wired for connection. Don’t allow yourselves to retreat into separate lives that struggle to connect now that the kids are gone. Have date nights, explore new hobbies together, connect intimately. This could become a second honeymoon for you.

Couples counseling can also be a great way to come together and create a new, strong foundation for how you will move forward and have an enriching life with an empty nest. Couples counseling isn’t just for when you are having trouble communicating, but can be a great way to enter new phases of life together and feel together.

Kristy is a warm and genuine couples therapist with a passion for helping you make sense of how the big things in life can affect your relationship. If you’d like to meet Kristy and explore what working with her would be like, contact us for a free consultation today.

Marriage Equality and the Fight for Healthy Relationships: A Reflection

June 26, 2015 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

Marriage Equality is about Human Rights. We work for all relationships, without exception.

I am inspired today to reflect on our work here at A Peaceful Life Counseling on this historic day for marriage equality. As I sit here in my office, I’m thinking about all of the couples that we provide counseling to. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Straight. Trans. You might not think about the commonalities in all relationships, but your should. Every relationship wants to be secure. Relationship issues are universal, even if how those problems manifest or are treated by society are not treated the same way. Couples need to know that issues are universal and there is help for their relationship. That’s right. Every single couple that comes in is struggling with something that, on one level or another, many many couples struggle with. The joy in this is understanding that we are all the same in our pain, we can shed some light and get rid of shame. Too many couples avoid seeking help for their marriage or relationship because they feel ashamed about it. Defective. Failing.

Now imagine that same feeling compounded by the thought that their relationship isn’t even recognized legally. When the law and society tells you that who you are and who you love are wrong or beneath, you don’t have access to the same pathways to healing and happiness. We want that to change, we work for that to change. Marriage equality must not stop here, but we’ve been working toward this day for a very long time. I remember in the early 2000’s eagerly watching Massachusetts legalize marriage, and expecting naively that it would only be a short time before marriage equality were a nationwide thing. (By the way, did you know that the constitution says that a marriage in one state is automatically valid in another? But this wasn’t applicable to LGBT marriages. Heartbreaking and infuriating.)

I’m sitting here with happy tears knowing that as we all unite as humans, in human relationships, we can give to everyone the support that being seen and heard gives. It heals you to know that you aren’t alone in your pain, that the types of struggles you have are the same things that many struggle with. It heals you to see that your relationship is recognized as a real thing in the law. We need to come together to support the flourishing of love in all of its forms, and today is a wonderful day to continue that.

So, here’s to all of the people who work for the health of our bedrock relationships, both legally and emotionally. Marriage Equality is one important step in promoting relationships, family, connection, and upholding the importance of our most important relationships. Every day we fight for our relationships. We struggle with the issues that love relationships have. We testify and promote legal equality. And at some point, it won’t be taboo for a couple to get support to maintain these most precious bonds. Love is a verb, and it needs to be practiced.

Lesbian relationships matter.

Gay relationships matter.

Trans relationships matter.

Poly relationships matter.

Bi relationships matter.

The relationships of people of color matter.

The relationships of people with disabilities matter.

We won’t stop working, but today we can celebrate.

Counseling for Anxiety and Relationship Issues Actually Changes Your Brain

April 14, 2015 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

Did you know that counseling for anxiety and relationship issues (as well as a host of other things) can re-wire your brain?

Many people have heard of how the way that we think influences how we feel. And most of the time, the way we feel influences how we think. If we experience a worry, that can create a physical feeling of anxiety. This physical feeling and the fear that come with it cause us to do things that might not be helpful, such as worry more or avoid situations that cause us stress. Sometimes it’s the physical feeling that comes first. All of these things seem to be wrapped up together.

The same is true for conflict in relationships. It’s easy to go on autopilot and have that same fight with your spouse over and over, without ever wondering if there’s something that your brain has been trained to do. You feel nervous and defensive in your body, and you know there’s going to be a disagreement. So you go ahead an strike first.

All of this happens without even thinking most of the time. And the more your do and experience certain types of things, the more they are likely to happen.

Your brain chemistry changes with your experiences.

In science this is called brain plasticity, but what it means is very practical. It means that even adults have a tremendous capacity to change how their brains are wired, for the better. You can actually learn how to create an upward spiral for yourself that is even better than antidepressants or anxiety drugs. Sometimes these drugs can be a lifesaver, but pills alone never work at both the symptoms and their causes. When you learn how to re-wire your brain through powerful techniques learned in counseling for anxiety and relationship issues, you are not only learning how to address the causes of the problem with different behaviors, but you are actually changing your brain’s chemistry, much like an antidepressant.

The details of how your brain changes are too detailed to get into here, but think of it this way: If you drive a Jeep down a muddy road, you leave tracks in the mud. The more you drive through that, the deeper the tracks get. When the mud dries and hardens, you are left with hard tracks that the wheels of your Jeep will naturally fall into the next time you go down that road. Our thoughts, feelings, actions, and brain chemistry create these tracks. These tracks represent how our brains are wired to have a certain chemical and neurological makeup. It is within your power to create new tracks, and actually have different chemistry and neurology. This means a new experience with a re-wired brain. You aren’t destined to drive down that same path with those old brain wires if you have some help in creating those new tracks.

If you are interested in learning more about how to create real and lasting change through counseling for anxiety and relationship issues, we’d be honored to help. Call our Lakewood office now to get your free consultation and explore what new tracks you’d like to create on your road to the life you want.

Your Free Therapy Consultation: 5 Ways to Prepare

June 23, 2014 by Kat Mindenhall, LCSW

If you are preparing to have a free therapy consultation, congrats on taking the first step to changing things!

There are 5 important things to consider before your free therapy consultation. A free therapy consultation is a wonderful chance to test drive what it would be like to work with a potential therapist.

But, it isn’t therapy. So, what is it? And how do you squeeze all that you can out of it?

1. Arrive early enough to get yourself a nice beverage and sit for a minute.

This will help you take in the scenery and prepare yourself. You may be a little nervous or excited, and if you don’t give yourself a chance to catch your breath you may find that the consultation is half over before you feel present enough to really do #1 and #2 well. Just sayin’.

2. Come ready to spit out your questions.

A good therapist should welcome questions, and their response style will help you decide if you think the therapist can help you. Ask the things that you are hesitant to ask. Are you worried that the therapist is going to judge you? Are you unsure about how the therapist is going to handle certain things? Ask! You are interviewing the therapist, and this is your chance to speak up and get their take on whatever is bugging you about the prospect of having therapy.

3. Come ready to answer some questions.

A consultation is not a time to go into a deep history of your issues, but it is a time to get a snapshot of what you can expect from therapy. The only way to know what to expect is to have a map of where you want to go, and where you don’t want to go. Be ready to answer questions about what you want to get out of counseling, what you DON’T want to get out of counseling, and what is going to happen if counseling doesn’t work. Not only will this help you clarify these things for yourself, it will help you and your therapist talk about your fears and expectations about the process. This will get you off to a running start in your work together.

4. Think about whether you like the therapist as a person.

It’s most important that you feel comfortable with the professional that you have chosen. Research shows that your relationship and how much you just genuinely like the therapist accounts for the majority of your progress in therapy. This is more important than their skills, their particular type of degree, etc. While it doesn’t mean that these things are unimportant, it does mean that your number one task is tuning in to your gut and seeing if this person could be a good fit for you. Any good therapist would agree and say that if you aren’t comfortable with them they would be happy to help you find someone with whom you are comfortable. And definitely choose a therapist that everyone is OK with if you are coming in as a couple/family.

5. Bring your calendar/schedule so that you can book your first session right there, if you are ready.

There is a good chance that if you leave without booking that session, it’s not going to happen. Maybe you don’t want to, but if you do intend to work with the therapist book it. Don’t let the momentum of the consultation be wasted by letting life get in the way (again) and leave you in the same place six months from now – needing to go see a therapist instead of happily living a different life. You won’t be pressured to book at the time, but experience tells me that getting that first session booked is the best way to safeguard yourself from getting derailed.

If you are struggling with relationships and are looking for a way to experience more love, understanding, and respect, contact us to set up a free therapy consultation in Denver or Lakewood today. We can look at what your options are and help you unlock the kind of life you really want.