Category Archives: Relationships and Marriage

Written by Lane Gormley, EdS, BCC, NGHC

Quid Pro Quo
Quid pro quo means “this for that” in Latin. In American law, it refers to the exchange of something of value between parties engaging in a contract. One person or group agrees to give another person or group something in exchange for what they need or desire. Marriages and relationships are agreements based on quid pro quo. They may or may not be legal and binding, but they are all based on some idea of give-and-take.

Written by Lane Gormley, EdS, LPC, NCC

I see couples of all kinds in my practice, and I think that Attachment Styles are worth bringing up. Attachment Styles describe how we relate, or attach, to intimate partners. The study of Attachment Styles in couples is an offshoot of Attachment Theory which began with the seminal works of psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst John Bowlby in the 1960s through the 1980s.

Written by: Lane Gormley, EdS, LPC, NCC

Marriage Therapy is never easy because it doesn”t happen until something has gone wrong in what presumably is, or at least was, the most important relationship in our life. Some instances of marriage therapy that I facilitated were brief and relatively painless. There was one couple who came for only five sessions of Imago Therapy. During a third-session discussion of childhood caregivers, each of them saw suddenly and clearly the misunderstandings that they held with respect to their partner”s behaviors. Their mutual relief was almost palpable: “Oh… Is that why he does that!!!!!” They left therapy after two more sessions with the understanding that, should further issues arise, we are always available to help them. I have not seen them since; but I did get a Hanukkah card saying that all goes well.

Lynn Thompson, M.S., LPC, NCC, CAMS
Certified Imago Relationship Therapist

With Valentines fast approaching couples may be thinking about how to spend this very commercialized holiday.  However, the rest of the year could prove to be just a stagnate relationship.