Couples Counseling and Psychotherapy

Being in an intimate relationship can be the most enchanting of experiences, yet it can also be a source of deep hurts, frustrations and pain. At times of stress, couples get stuck in dysfunctional patterns of mutual blaming, attacking and/or withdrawing, and they don't know how to get out of them. Each partner feels the other is responsible for the problems. Each waits for the other to make the first move, as each sees his or her behavior as a reaction to the other's. Needless to say, nothing happens. And, while partners may still love each other, this situation is certainly not conducive to accessing and expressing and enjoying loving and tender emotions.

Treatment plans are tailored to each individual couple, and are based on their unique needs and concerns. Treatment plans include a thorough individual and couple assessment and weekly sessions aimed at helping partners deal with the problems and regain secure attachment to one another.

The ♥ of conflict approach addresses interpersonal problems in a set sequence:

1. The symptoms couples are experiencing are the focus of the initial sessions.
   
   
2. The past is examined because of how past attachment experiences, all the way back to the first one as infants and toddlers, affect the ways couples engage in adult love relationships. These earlier experiences determine the level of comfort or discomfort with adult intimacy.
   
   
3. The ♥ of conflict. Conflicts arise at the confluence of present problems and past experiences that couples bring to a relationship – expectations, hopes and fears stemming from previous positive experiences as well as from traumas and unresolved conflicts. When repetitive patterns are identified and addressed, couples become aware of them and explore how to separate the past from the present, creating new options and directions for themselves and each other.
   
   
4. The future focuses on maintaining the new connection achieved in therapy by learning how to address challenges as they come up. In this way couples can continue to interact with one another in ways that are sensitive, respectful, empathic and appreciative. These interactions maintain closeness and emotional safety between partners.
   
   

Couple counseling and psychotherapy are provided in a safe environment where issues and problems can be identified, addressed and explored. Conjoint sessions provide an ongoing source of guidance, self and mutual understanding, education and mediation. And when couples can go beyond what is visible on the surface and understand what is triggering their feelings and behaviors, they can access and share deep emotions that were previously inaccessible to them, like gratitude, forgiveness, appreciation and joy. This process brings about deep and permanent changes, breaking the dysfunctional cycles in which couples were previously trapped, and facilitates the development of a new kind of closeness and intimacy.

Who benefits from Couple Counseling and Psychotherapy:

Anybody who is in an intimate relationship and wants to discover ways of being together that is not hurtful, but connected and appreciative of what each partner has to offer, regardless of whether heterosexual or homosexual, married or not.

Couple Counseling Services are specifically tailored to individual needs:

• Pre-marital Counseling, for couples who want to make sure they are suited to one another and are able to identify and address issues that, if unattended, could become a serious impediment to closeness in the future.
  
  
• Marriage/Life Partner Counseling, for couples stuck in dysfunctional patterns of interactions, which they are unable to resolve on their own.
  
  
• Couples Intensive Enrichment Weekends, consisting of ten hours of psychotherapy and couple counseling, entirely focused on each couple's specific conflicts and problems. For more information on intensive weekends, please go to http://www.droherpsychotherapy.com/enrichment.html.
  
  

In addition to the above services, we also offer:

• Sibling/Family Counseling, for people whose relationships with family members present challenges that maintain conflict and stress.
  
  

All treatment information is private and confidential.

A 24 hour notice is required for cancellations. Sessions are offered at both office locations. In Carefree evening hours and weekends are available as well as regular hours.

Carefree Office 7301 East Sundance Trail, Suite B203 Carefree, AZ 85377

Scottsdale Office 4300 N. Miller Rd. Suite 102 Scottsdale, AZ 85251

"But sometimes it is just when everything seems to be lost that we experience a presentiment that may save us; one has knocked on all the doors that lead nowhere and then…one pushes against the only one through which one may enter…and it opens."
--Marcel Proust