Relational conflict rarely begins in the present moment. What unfolds between two people often carries earlier attachment histories, unspoken expectations, instinctual defenses, and deeply rooted emotional patterns. In close relationships — whether romantic partners, family members, or long-term professional or business partners — we encounter not only one another, but also parts of ourselves shaped long before we met.
From a Jungian and psychodynamic perspective, relationships can constellate powerful projections and unconscious dynamics. When individuals trigger one another, unresolved early experiences may be reactivated and unconsciously reenacted. In these moments, a partner may be cast into an archetypal role — the critic, the tyrant, the abandoning figure — embodying emotional injuries carried from the past. What appears as present conflict often carries the echo of earlier wounds seeking recognition and repair.
Relational therapy offers a space to slow down what feels reactive or repetitive and to examine the emotional undercurrents beneath conflict. We explore how communication becomes strained, how distance forms, and how protective strategies — once necessary for survival — begin to erode connection. Rather than assigning blame or remaining caught in projection, we attend to the relational field itself: the subtle ways longing, fear, shame, and unmet needs circulate between you.
The work involves reclaiming projections, recognizing how each person’s history enters the relationship, and restoring dialogue where defensiveness once prevailed. Over time, greater emotional safety and a more conscious form of intimacy—whether romantic, familial, or collaborative—can emerge through increased awareness and mutual responsibility. I integrate EMDR to support reprocessing of unresolved emotional experiences and implicit memories that may be activated in the relational dynamic, and I draw on Gottman Method principles alongside a psychodynamic framework to support communication skills, insight, and relational patterns, including structured exercises and between-session practices for you and your partner.
Fee: $250 per 50-minute online session. Couples & Relational therapy is structured as a weekly commitment to maintain therapeutic momentum and create the stability required for meaningful change within the relationship.