Welcome to my Blog
Thank you for stopping by. This space is where I share research, reflections, and practical tools drawn from my experience as a marriage and family therapist.
Are you a couple looking for clarity? A professional curious about the science of relationships? Or simply someone interested in how love and resilience work? I’m glad you’ve found your way here. I can help with that.
Each post is written with one goal in mind: to help you better understand yourself, your partner, and the hidden dynamics that shape human connection.
Grab a coffee (or a notebook), explore what speaks to you, and take what’s useful back into your life and relationships. And if a post sparks a question, or makes you realize you could use more support, I’d love to hear from you.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
~Daniel
P.S.
Feel free to explore the categories below to find past blog posts on the topics that matter most to you. If you’re curious about attachment, navigating conflict, or strengthening intimacy, these archives are a great way to dive deeper into the research and insights that I’ve been sharing for years.
- Attachment Issues
- Coronavirus
- Couples Therapy
- Extramarital Affairs
- Family Life and Parenting
- How to Fight Fair
- Inlaws and Extended Families
- Intercultural Relationships
- Marriage and Mental Health
- Married Life & Intimate Relationships
- Neurodiverse Couples
- Separation & Divorce
- Signs of Trouble
- Social Media and Relationships
- What Happy Couples Know
Is it time for the return of Marital Group Therapy?
Once upon a time… back in the 60’s and 70’s… we loved Marital Group Therapy… Is it time to revisit and expand this approach?
If the notion of a new model of Marital Group Therapy finds any traction, we’ll have to learn new clinical skills and best practices to create a safe and confidential space where more than one couple will feel comfortable sharing their experiences…
Paradoxical Interventions in Marriage and Family Therapy
“If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done? – George Carlin
Are 50% of couples entering couples therapy just to find out if it’s worth staying?
Couples who entered therapy who were motivated to build skills to improve the relationship, were nearly 80% more likely to be together six months after treatment than the couples who entered therapy wanting to know if they should separate or not.
Motivation Matters!
The science-based symphony of love…
Gottman Couples Therapy and Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy are the dominant models used today.
In this post, I’ll compare and contrast the two models with a tortuously extended symphonic metaphor…
2 New studies discuss the role of AI in therapy…
More researchers are noticing that there most certainly will be a place of AI in the mental health arena… but will AI replace therapists?
Unlikely, but they might be learning more as a result…
Will AI lifestyle trainers render therapists obsolete?
Will the helping profession become fully automated?
Not likely, but we have to admire what AI can do well, with both humility and pride. How do we accommodate an alien intelligence?
Slagging, the Dozens game, and the cultural utility of teasing…
Sometimes cultures evolve adaptive behavior which can be either easily misunderstood, or exploited by a troubled partner. Do these cultural adaptations foster mental toughness?
In praise of Dr. Howard Markman and his decades of relationship science…
Relationship science helps us understand how intimate relationships can thrive in challenging times.
Dr. Markman’s research team reveals how…
Circular conflict patterns in couples and the merits of systemic thinking
Systemic thinking is the basis of effective family therapy, and can help couples escape from linear, he-said, she-said thinking…
The Sound Relationship House Revisited
What is the Gottman Sound Relationship House? It seems that you can’t find a Gottman trained blogger or Gottman “informed” therapist website, that doesn’t rhapsodize about it. They all seem to approach it similarly.
I thought that in this post, I might meander a path to the side door instead of taking the usual six-lane superhighway to the front door of the Sound Relationship House.