Blog
Modes in Schema Therapy: Understanding the Inner Cast of Characters
Modes are emotional parts of you that show up in everyday life. Learn how schema therapy helps you recognize, understand, and care for these inner roles with compassion.
When One Partner Grows and the Other Doesn’t: The Shifts Recovery Brings
When one partner is actively growing in recovery, it can create strain if the other isn’t ready to change. This post explores how differentiation helps couples stay emotionally connected during these shifts in sex addiction recovery.
What Are Schemas? How Life’s Early and Ongoing Messages Shape Adult Relationships
Schemas form through early life experiences and repeated patterns over time. This post explores how they influence adult relationships—and how schema therapy can help you heal.
When Secrets Surface: Healing the Wound of Hidden Porn Use in Marriage
The discovery of secret porn use in a marriage can leave partners reeling. In this post, we explore why secrecy hurts, what emotional repair requires, and how couples therapy creates a path forward. If you're feeling lost after a breach of trust, you're not alone—and healing is possible.
What If I Never Trust Again?
Trust doesn’t just break after betrayal—it unravels your sense of reality. In this post, we explore what it means to rebuild trust from the inside out, starting not with the betrayer, but with yourself.
Differentiation 101: Why Closeness Doesn’t Have to Mean Losing Yourself
Many couples struggle with closeness because they don’t know how to stay themselves in the relationship. This post explores the concept of differentiation and how it helps couples grow stronger without collapsing into conflict or disconnection.
Hypervigilance and Avoidance: How the Brain Reacts to Pain in the Bedroom
Avoidance during sex isn’t rejection—it’s protection. Learn how the brain responds to pain and how emotional safety can help couples heal from sexual fear and disconnection.
Introduction to Schema Therapy: A Relational Approach to Deep Change
Schema Therapy goes beyond surface-level change by addressing the deep-rooted patterns that keep us stuck. Discover how this relational approach helps you heal from the inside out.
When Old Survival Strategies Stop Working
Some coping strategies helped you survive—but now they may be keeping you stuck. Learn how Schema Therapy helps uncover old patterns, build a Healthy Adult self, and create more fulfilling relationships.
Mirror Neurons and Shame: Why Watching Others Affects How You See Yourself
Recovery can bring a flood of shame and emotional overwhelm. This blog explores how mirror neurons impact empathy and self-perception in sex addiction—and how healing rewires both.
When Anger Becomes the Foundation: The Betrayal Pyramid
After betrayal, couples often feel emotionally distant and confused. This post introduces the Betrayal Pyramid—a tool we use at Insights Counseling Center to explain what happens beneath the surface, and how to begin healing together.
EFT for the Burnt-Out Parent Couple: Reconnecting in the Chaos
Parenting can leave even the closest couples feeling more like teammates than lovers. When exhaustion and logistics take over, emotional connection often fades—but it doesn’t have to stay that way. This post explores how EFT helps couples rebuild closeness, express needs with vulnerability, and find each other again—even in the chaos. Learn how to shift from surviving to reconnecting.
Book Review: Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts
This review explores Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts, a must-read for anyone struggling with obsessive or disturbing thoughts. Learn how to respond differently—and more compassionately—to the mind’s noise.
He Made Me Yell, She Made Me Shut Down": Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Conflict
When both partners escalate a conflict, it leads to a destructive cycle known as a "flare-flare." This post explains why it happens, how to recognize your role, and strategies for responding in a healthier, more constructive way.
Learning to Speak from the Heart Instead of Defend from the Hurt
We often lash out or shut down when we most want to feel close. This post explores how Emotionally Focused Therapy helps couples move from defensiveness to deep connection.
Balancing Your Child’s Well-Being and Your Own Self-Care
As a parent, it can feel like your own needs have to take a backseat to your child’s struggles. But in family therapy, we know that supporting your well-being is just as important. Here’s how caring for yourself supports your child’s healing too.
How Therapy Can Help You Navigate Debt Anxiety and Financial Overwhelm
Debt anxiety isn’t just about money—it’s about safety, identity, and hope. Therapy offers a path to rebuild resilience, set boundaries, and face finances with courage.
Is the Difficult Person in Your Life a Narcissist? Understanding the Spectrum of Narcissism
Not all narcissism is toxic, but when it is, it can threaten the foundation of your relationship. Learn how to recognize healthy, moderate, and extreme narcissistic traits—and what to do if you find yourself stuck.
Good Sex vs. Bad Sex? Why All-or-Nothing Thinking Can Sabotage Intimacy
When sex becomes a test of perfection, intimacy suffers. This post explores how all-or-nothing thinking shows up in the bedroom—and how therapy can help you replace pressure with presence.
Turning Toward Bids: The Small Moves That Build Big Connection
In relationships, small moments matter most. Learn what bids for connection are, why turning toward (and enthusiastically turning toward) them builds emotional safety and intimacy, and how to strengthen your relationship one moment at a time with Gottman Method couples therapy.