Elisabeth LaMotte
125 minutes, Directed by John Lee Hancock, 2013 When I sat down last night to watch Saving Mr. Banks with my family, my expectations were modest at best. I felt pleased to find a rare PG rating without the 13 attached, and viewed our selection as an appropriate, child-oriented, family compromise. We have always appreciated…
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Esther Perel, 2007, 272 pages A mantra of my post-graduate training in couples, family and sex therapy was that when a couple is struggling in the bedroom, that struggle is a mirror for what’s happening outside of the bedroom. So, if you help a couple increase intimacy and enhance communication, and you employ the sex…
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Cinematic portrayals of couples therapy are tough to acheive. While television series such as In Treatment and The Sopranos have done a wonderful job of conveying what its like to experience individual psychotherapy, a realistic portrayal is much harder to achieve in a film. And even harder to achieve with respect to couples. The groundbreaking film Hope Springs (available on DVD) achieves…
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Written and Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 90 minutes, 2013 Internet porn has changed relationships and marriages in more ways than a couples therapist can count. Questions on the pornography front are quite common. Is it okay to watch together? Is it okay to watch it alone? If so, how much is too much? These questions…
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Directed by Robert Benton, 1979 Considering divorce? When relationship dynamics hit an all-time low, and life stressors hit an all-time high, divorce can start to feel like a possible solution. Granted, many, many divorces are necessary. Many divorces, however, can be avoided. For some couples contemplating a split, viewing the 1979 Academy Award winning divorce…
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2011, 1 hour and 56 minutes Written and Directed by Sarah Polley When a marriage is going through challenging times, it is extremely common to become consumed with thoughts about how there must be something out there that is better. Such thoughts can be especially powerful if there is someone else in the picture. Whether…
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THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS 2011, 338 pages, Random House, Vanessa Diffenbaugh It is a basic principle of most forms of psychotherapy that it is often essential to examine how formative childhood events and primary family relationships relate to current life experiences. If you are curious about or currently examining how your own past informs your…
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THE FITZGERALD FAMILY CHRISTMAS Edward Burns , 2012, 99 minutes Navigating the holiday season with divorced parents is somewhat like walking a tightrope: at any moment one can plunge into dangerous territory, and it requires tremendous balance, skill and practice to avoid disaster. People with divorced parents spend countless holidays practicing this precarious act. Sadly,…
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Exploring sibling relationships is often an important dimension of the therapeutic process. Understanding the dynamics between siblings sheds light on one’s historical roles in the family. Understanding family roles from childhood can be key to understanding current patterns in romantic, professional and social relationships. Jhumpa Lahiri’s riveting new book, “The Lowland”, begins with a beautiful narrative…
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Pieces of April (2003, Peter Hedges, 80 minutes) Thanksgiving is a holiday filled with many traditions — Grandma’s cranberry sauce, mom’s holiday decor and marathon football viewing fall into the category of expected traditions celebrated by the media and popular culture. A lesser publicized truth is that, for many families, there is an unspoken tradition…
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