Therapy Has a Relationship Problem

—DrAfter123—Getty Images Some relationships need to end.

Years ago, I treated a woman whose husband was deliberately trying to drive her toward suicide while attempting to extract money from her family.

What struck me was not only the cruelty of his behavior, but his complete lack of empathy or remorse for the harm he was causing.

Leaving him was necessary, and the woman is now happily remarried.

Most troubled relationships look nothing like that.

They involve disappointment, resentment, misunderstanding, conflicting needs, old wounds, and people who have never learned how to reconcile after hurting one another.

In more than 20 years of clinical practice, that extreme case remains the only time I directly recommended divorce .

Mental-health professionals have become remarkably good at helping clients identify unhealthy relationships.

We have a sophisticated vocabulary for boundaries , trauma , toxicity , narcissism , gaslighting , and emotional safety .

But I worry that we are far less effective at helping people navigate difficult but meaningful connections.

There is an irony here.

Psychotherapy itself is predicated upon the healing power of human connection, yet therapists can be surprisingly quick to undervalue relationships outside the therapy room.

Furthermore, relationships themselves teach basic psychological capacities such as regulating emotions , tolerating disappointment, and negotiating differences—skills which therapy is supposed to cultivate.

Too often, we mistake relational distress for relational dysfunction.