Intimacy & Commitment
Director: Charlie McDowell Writer: Justin Lader 91 minutes/ August, 2014 Infidelity is a common topic of conversation in couples therapy. While discovering that one’s partner was unfaithful is a devastating and often traumatic experience, many couples can and do work through this discovery and come out stronger on the other side. One of the toughest…
Each holiday season, many of our therapy clients reflect and prepare emotionally in an effort to make the most of their upcoming visits with family. Family visits can be psychologically intense experiences that are especially meaningful for those who are in therapy and hoping to break out of long standing patterns and dysfunctional family…
Most of us experience some form of social anxiety. We may feel nervous before a social gathering or slightly agitated during group activities. In the extreme, social anxiety compromises the ability to connect to another person in an intimate relationship. Jean-Pierre Ameris’ 2010 French film “Les Emotifs Anonymous” is a comedic but meaningful study of what happens…
Michael Cunningham, 2014, 272 pages Intimate relationships are a primary focus in psychotherapy. Through therapy, people examine their closest relationships in order to determine what aspects of their approach to others work well for them, and what aspects of their approach they might want to change in order to form healthier attachments. In order to…
As a therapist working with adults in their twenties, thirties and forties, many of whom are single, I frequently discuss the way that technology affects dating and relationships with my clients. I often wonder what the future will look like, and how much farther the internet revolution will infiltrate and impact the human experience of…
Ben Stiller, 2013, 114 minutes The intersection of dating and technology is an inevitable topic for single adults in therapy. Whether discussing questions about the choice to pursue on-line dating, or how Facebook, Instagram and texting shape the modern relationship landscape, technology has a profound influence over the process of seeking romance and connection. Directed…
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…
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…
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…
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…