not to mention there may even be days when the mere sight of your spouse makes you want to lock yourself in your bedroom indefinitely—which is part of the reason why it can be hard to tell if you’re actually in an unhappy relationship or marriage or if you’re just going through a rough patch. and while that may be true, so is the opposite: “healthy relationships have conflict,” says stephanie wijkstrom, a psychotherapist and founder of the counseling and …

besides an ill-fitting pair of shapewear, is there anything more uncomfortable than when you’ve screwed up and you know it? that sick feeling of dread and remorse in the pit of your stomach will make you miserable, but the fact of the matter is people make mistakes that hurt the people they love all the time. if you’ve messed up with your partner, whether it’s snooping through their stuff or really betraying them by cheating, and you need to make …

as a licensed couples therapist with a master’s in social work, reeves has over 25 years of experience treating couples and families. our histories contribute to how well we understand and work with what shows up in us. we unwittingly react to discomfort and perceived threats from our partner, establishing patterns of disconnection and distance. identifying these habits, honoring how they have come to be and learning to interrupt them and replace them with more satisfying dynamics is a big …

it feels as if your marriage is crumbling before your eyes and you know exactly who to blame. lara’s son, robbie, is 10 and lives with them most of the time. he said she was acting like a baby and needed to grow up and thought kristi coddled her too much. little kids have a lot of big feelings, and they rarely know what to do with them. on the contrary, others hold on to a lot of emotional baggage …

a happy marriage can mean you have a partner to share your life with and experience together all the joys and hardships that come with it. being unhappy in your marriage is different from being dissatisfied with your life. and as long as the marriage isn’t abusive and partners are reasonably respectful of one another, it can actually work for some couples. here are resources you can reach out to right now: if your marriage is unhappy but you’re not …