Marriage

The Marriage of Opposites

By Elisabeth LaMotte / December 24, 2015

Alice Hoffman, Simon & Schuster, 2015 “I suppose this is what love can do to a woman, bring her into a garden at night, convinced she somehow can affect fate’s plan with her desire.  Love like this was a mystery to me.  I didn’t understand how people allowed sheer emotion to get the better of…

Us

By Elisabeth LaMotte / October 2, 2015

Us David Nicholls 396 pages, 2014 “It was dizzying, really, to be in love at last.  Because this was the first time, I knew that now.  Everything else had been a misdiagnosis – infatuation, obsession perhaps, but an entirely different condition to this.  This was bliss; this was transformative.” Despite pages of engaging writing about…

While We’re Young

By Elisabeth LaMotte / August 25, 2015

“If age is just a state of mind, then While We’re Young is the best kind of therapy a forty something starting to lose touch with the younger generation could hope for.”   Peter Debruge, Variety Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are settling into their forties and beginning to feel all washed up.  Josh,…

Still Alice

By Elisabeth LaMotte / June 22, 2015

When a parent falls ill, the family constellation is bound to change, and multiple familial relationships usually become strained or strengthened, sometimes in unexpected ways.   Most people decide to begin therapy because something has changed, and usually this change involves a family or relationship crisis.  Since most of the clients in our therapy practice are…

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts

By Elisabeth LaMotte / May 14, 2015

Gary D. Chapman, Northfield Publishing How can couples who want to make their marriage work regain the loving feelings from earlier years?  This is a question asked by many clients in couples therapy and obviously an excellent one.  One challenge is that the whirlwind passionate experience of falling in love is magical — in part…

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By Elisabeth LaMotte / April 23, 2015

Director: John Madden Screenplay: Ol Parker Stars:  Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel PG – 122 Minutes We are socialized to imagine that getting engaged and planning a wedding will be a magical whirlwind fulfilling life-long fantasies of white lace, multi-level tiered cakes and happy-ever-after.  Any couples therapist with experience in pre-marital counseling…

The One I Love

By Elisabeth LaMotte / February 15, 2015

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…

Newlyweds

By Elisabeth LaMotte / December 14, 2014

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…

Crossing to Safety

By Elisabeth LaMotte / October 1, 2014

What makes a marriage work?  What makes a relationship last?  How does work influence marriage?  How does marriage influence work?  How important is it to make time to see friends?  These are questions that come up frequently in psychotherapy.  Wallace Stegner’s 1987 classic novel on love, literature, friendship and marriage illuminates the timeless quality of…

Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage

By Elisabeth LaMotte / September 12, 2014

257 pages, Simon and Schuster Molly Wizenberg’s blog, Orangette, was named the world’s best food blog by the London Times.  Her lively 2014 memoir about her husband Brandon’s dream of opening a pizza joint in Seattle and what happens along the way says as much about maintaining a healthy, happy albeit imperfect marriage as it…

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