It can take anywhere from four to seven years for a stepfamily to successfully blend, according to Joshua M. Gold in his book Stepping In, Stepping Out: Creating Stepfamily Rhythm. The formation of a stepfamily is “uncharted water for everyone,” he says. Not only do parents and children each carry
Tag: Couples
This past December, a major pop culture event occurred for which millions of people had been waiting longer than three decades: Star Wars: Episode VII was released. Finally, the story from 1983’s Return of the Jedi was continuing. Many fans reserved tickets two months in advance, while others camped out
As counselors, we come in contact with clients who are angry or heartbroken and oftentimes feel defeated. This sense of pain and loss is frequently realized in the forensic setting in which I work with parents who are desperate to rebuild a parent-child relationship that is severely damaged or estranged.
“Follow your heart but take your brain with you.” Relationship science has come a long way since Alfred Adler shared those words of wisdom, but they remain just as applicable today as when he wrote them in the 1920s. Modern scientific studies, ranging from smelling T-shirts (seriously) to connecting couples
“Rose” and “Steve” came to American Counseling Association member Laura Marshak for couples counseling because they felt they had been growing further and further apart ever since their son, “Sammy,” who was now in elementary school, had been born with cerebral palsy. Out of necessity, Steve had become the primary breadwinner
This past summer, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, announced that they are expecting a baby. This celebrity baby news grabbed headlines for a different reason than most, however. The couple’s announcement included a candid acknowledgment that they had been trying to have a baby for
Counseling individuals and families experiencing divorce is difficult work, often fraught with conflict that is challenging to contain. A great amount of anxiety, fear, anger and sadness may be present for all of the people involved, including one or both of the spouses and the children. Each individual may feel
When Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote in his novel Anna Karenina, “Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” he was definitely on to something. A dysfunctional family environment has myriad effects on its members — effects that are intricately woven by factors such as personalities, communication abilities, attachment
In the past decade, research on the efficacy of premarital counseling has proven difficult. The most notable obstacle is the reality of the self-selection bias, which recognizes that couples who are motivated to engage in premarital counseling already exhibit low risk of marital conflict. Seeking to stem divorce rates, many
“The tipping point,” a concept presented by Malcolm Gladwell in a book by the same name in 2000, occurs when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire. I believe helping women process the grief they experience after an abortion choice is an idea