A Brief History of Attachment Theory When Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst John Bowlby developed his Attachment Theory, he theorized that an infant needs to become attached to one main figure, the mother or caregiver.  Attachment was defined as a vital and close bond that grows between an infant and its mother.  Infants become attached to an […]

In my last blog post I talked about the qualities necessary for a successful negotiation and specifically how to prepare for the negotiation.  Following are the steps to take when you and your partner sit down to begin the negotiation. Establish ground rules for the negotiation. For example: No yelling No blaming No name-calling Describe […]

In healthy relationships, partners can talk through disagreements and find solutions that feel good to each of them.  A sense of trust that your partner is on your side even when the two of you don’t see eye to eye is essential. Since greaterself-disclosure is required in a relationship than in other forms of negotiations, […]

One of the most common scenarios that couples get caught in is to blame the other for the difficulties in their relationship.  To each partner it just makes sense that if the other person would just stop doing X then everything would be just fine.  Unfortunately, this is not productive nor is it accurate.  Communication […]

Privacy and secrecy are thorny issues in relationships.  Couples often struggle with knowing what can be held back and what should be revealed.  There can be confusion between a desire for privacy (or private time) and a feeling that we need to hide something from our partner.  You should determine why you are keeping a […]