Robinson-Wood Center for ​Applied Psychology, PLLC

If in individual therapy the psychotherapist is examining four relationships –the patient’s relationship with her/himself, the patient’s relationship to the psychotherapist, the psychotherapist’s relationship to the patient and the psychotherapist’s relationship with her/himself– then in couples-marital therapy we must understand that the psychotherapist’s examination is broadened to include the relationship between two individuals within the marital relationship. In couples-relationship therapy the patient is both the plural you, referring to the relationship, and the singular you, referring to each individual within that relationship. The therapists relationship is to the relationship and to each individual within the relationship without bestowing to any one individual, preference. This is particularly important in creating a space where both partners feel safe, an outcome of being heard one one's own terms.