The quality of our communication and the quality of our lives are directly related. The more skilled we are in communicating with others, the more successful we are likely to be, both personally and professionally. People who communicate well will be able to cope better with stress, adapt better to major changes in life, have more friends, and are less likely to suffer from depression, loneliness, or anxiety. In romantic relationships, effective communication skills are one o

Knowing what your natural style of communication is can be a valuable step in improving your interaction in all contexts and relieving social stress. One of the most common communication models describes 4 types: The assertive type The passive type The aggressive type The passive-aggressive type. The awareness of this model helped me better understand my clients who very often describe their problems as: • "I am the one who keeps silent during a meeting unless really neces

While doing research for the Stress reduction program I want to create, I discovered what my main problem with stress was: My mindset about it and the response I had. Let me explain. Most of us have some kind of automatic response that we develop in time when we encounter stressful situations. The usual response we have is one of these two: 1. Ineffective responding. 2. Effective responding The first response (that I realized I have), was a complaining response. I was just wi

Recently I’ve got my hands on one of the best books about giving and receiving feedback. The moment I understood how helpful the subject is

Often people visit my office to help them make a decision. Not an easy task when it’s about life-changing decisions, like: should I divorce or should I stay in this relationship, should I accept this new job/position, should I move to another country, which partner is the best for me? The predominant feeling is ambivalence: “I want this, but I also want that”. Or fear and regret: “I am afraid that if I choose this, I’ll lose that”, “What if things go wrong?” Some other people

Most of you are familiar with periodic performance assessments at work or at school, right? How many are performing such for private life?

When I started school, I learned that couple therapy is when two people who want to work on their relationship come to therapy and work things through. Now, years later, and with a lot more experience with couples, I know it is much more than that. One of the most difficult tasks I encounter as a therapist is to support couples going through an affair. Contrary to the idea that once this happens, there are no more chances for the couple to continue being together, I’ve experi

Conflict is part of any couple. As Esther Perel said, couples go through a cycle of harmony, disharmony, and repair. A good fight is one that ends with a resolution and repair.A bad fight is a negative escalation based on attacking, blaming, and offending the other. While good fights lead to building a stronger foundation of a couple, a bad fight will weaken it to the point of breaking it up. Even a strong love cannot last in the face of criticism, blame, or contempt. To help

Every time I want to write an article, I catch myself debating wether I should or shouldn't write. There is one voice in my head telling me that maybe no one is interested in what I want to say, that there's too much information online anyway, that it will be hard to structure the content or that I'm just not the social-media type. In one word: I am questioning my own writing competence. I have identified this voice as my self-doubt. And I have also noticed that from time to