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When Protection Becomes the Pattern: How Trauma Speaks Through Our Communication
Sometimes we hear ourselves say things we didn’t mean. Or we shut down just when we most want to be heard. Afterward, we’re left trying to make sense of it—wondering, Why did I react like that? What just happened? For those of us with trauma histories, these moments of miscommunication often carry an old, familiar
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Recentering Your Self: Managing Burnout to Reconnect with Your Life and Relationships
It all came on rather suddenly. I began experiencing unfamiliar symptoms: migraines, swollen lymph nodes, body aches, fatigue, and an overwhelming sense of detachment and depression. In my personal therapy, all I could express was a sentiment of desperation: “I want out.” I felt utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by the life I had constructed, as
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Relationship Problems? Maybe It’s You…
In most cases, when it comes to our relationships, we get what we give. But often, we are focused on what we wish our partner would give us or do for us and less on what we can provide more of in the relationship. Of course, this makes sense! We want to hurt less, to
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Crucial Mindsets that will Help you Get the Most Out of Couples & Relationship Therapy
I have committed a decade of my life to understanding relational dynamics, attachment science, and what makes relationships thrive and fail. I have worked with hundreds of couples and individuals and have identified some key attitudes and orientations that promote the efficacy of therapy. Below is a brief and distilled list of factors that, when
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The Deeper Opportunity in Conflict
I was recently contacted by someone looking for couples therapy, saying that they felt like their relationship check engine light was on. I’m going to borrow that analogy. It’s perfect because don’t we often feel like something’s off or concerning before we’ve even taken it as far as naming it or figuring out what it
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Dating Again, in Your Mid-Life.
How to start dating again in midlife? Staring down the road of dating after a long break can be pretty terrifying for most people. At your midlife, you may have some kids, a career, a full schedule, and maybe even a history of relationships not working out for one reason or another. You might think
Dr. Jessie Brown 