Feeling connected to someone you love can be the most wonderful experience in the world. But that sense of connection often seems to slip away, replaced by frustration, disagreement and longing for more. Relationship therapy can help. Together we can identify the issues or triggers that reoccur and damage relationships. Understanding why you feel hurt, left out, or unloved and how you try to protect yourself is the first step in healing. Understanding more about yourself and your partner can allow compassion to develop. In addition, we will work on skills to restore passion, safety, and intimacy, while reducing anger, blame, and criticism. This process can help you and your partner move toward a healthier and more intimate relationship.
Imago Relationship Therapy
Imago Relationship Therapy has successfully helped couples and singles form and maintain healthy relationships, even after all hope was lost. Imago Relationship Therapy is a theory of committed love relationships developed by Harville Hendrix from the exclusive study of couples, rather than individuals or families. The model draws from and synthesizes the major psychological and spiritual traditions of our culture. The theory is partially based on the premise that childhood experiences form an unconscious image or “imago.” These unconscious images play an important role in the formation of identity and choice of partner selection. The unconscious forces that attract us to our partner are also quite often the source of conflicts and power struggles that typically develop in committed relationships. Imago Relationship Therapy provides an effective process for helping couples learn how to heal rather than hurt one another by becoming conscious of their childhood wounds. In therapy, you will create a plan for change that includes relationship skills, identification of childhood issues, and the gradual integration of lost and denied self aspects. An important goal of Imago Relationship Therapy is to transform unconscious intimate partnerships, which could also include parenting, into conscious relationships. Single people also find Imago Relationship Therapy helpful in assisting them in preparation for a committed healthy relationship.
How Imago Creates Connection
The Imago Dialogue is a simple, respectful and effective way to talk with your partner about the things that really matter. In Imago, there’s no blame, shame or criticism. Instead, a stronger connection comes through attentive hearing and being deeply heard in an emotionally safe environment.