Blog - Couples Therapy NZ | Relationship help in Auckland New Zealand

13Jul 2025 by Paula Dennan

Breaking The Conflict Cycle – Turning Difference into Growth in Your Relationship

blogs

In the quiet moments after another argument, many couples find themselves asking: Why does this keep happening? You may feel like you're stuck in a never-ending cycle—saying the arguing about same things, triggering the same reactions, and growing more distant with each round of battle. If this sounds familiar, know this: you're not alone, and more importantly, you're not broken. Conflict is not a sign of failure. It’s simply a sign of difference—and, while uncomfortable, difference is not a threat, it is a normal and even necessary part of a relational growth. Why does difference feel so threatening? In the early stages of a relationship, many couples feel deeply connected—aligned in values, goals, even daily rhythms. But over time, as life unfolds, intimacy deepens and the emphasis on similarities subsides,…

01Dec 2022 by Nic Beets

Feeling Vulnerable Vs Being Vulnerable

blogs

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vulnerable as ‘capable of being physically or emotionally wounded; open to attack or damage.' Understandably, many of us work hard to avoid feeling vulnerable. Why would you want to leave yourself open to being wounded or attacked? You will choose to make yourself vulnerable if you believe that the rewards are worth it. Emotional vulnerability is an essential part of intimacy and feeling truly loved. We all have ways we reflexively protect ourselves from emotional hurt. For example, you might be smiley and pleasing (so you don’t offer any threat), or you might be stony-faced and grumpy (so you look tough and dangerous). You are hiding your deeper thoughts, feelings and desires from view so that people can’t use them to manipulate or hurt you with…

18Mar 2021 by Nic Beets No Comments

Are you an Explorer or a Climber?

blogs

Not all mountain climbers start from the same place Some people have to travel a long way just to get to the mountain Learning how to be the kind of person who can have a successful long-term intimate relationship is a big mountain to climb. There are many ups and downs along the way and it requires bravery and persistence. We face similar dangers - anyone can be swept off the mountain by some avalanche of external circumstances (illnesses, injuries, losses…). And yet, although we all have to climb the same mountain, the journey is very different for us all. Some people come from wealthy mountain-climbing families. They have athletic genetics and all the right gear. They start their journey being helicoptered in (by secure attachment and healthy differentiation in…

17Dec 2020 by Nic Beets No Comments

Being “logical” isn’t always rational

blogs, Communication, Relationships, Self-awareness

Do you try hard to stay “logical” or “rational” when talking or disagreeing with someone? On the surface this looks like a good idea – we want decisions made on factual information, not just emotions. But, as fans of Star Trek will know, this is a doomed enterprise (pun fully intended, with apologies). What we usually acheive is the exact opposite of being rational. When I talk in an “unemotional” way, what I actually do is disown and deny the feelings that are the motivation for my opinion. Emotion researcher Karla Mclaren (https://karlamclaren.com) stresses that emotions are a fundamental part of our cognitive system. In other words, emotions are another way our brain sends us messages just like our senses do. We can’t think without feeling. When we present our…

29Jul 2020 by Nic Beets No Comments

What is “couple time” for?

blogs

MAKING TIME FOR COUPLE TIME IS A GOOD IDEA Like a business or a garden or a vintage car, relationships need constant maintenance; frequent and consistent attending to. If you are not attending to your relationship by investing time and effort in it, you can't expect it to work well. Lots of people have got a handle on the notion that it’s important to schedule couple time into their busy lives. Which is great. If you’re a busy person and something is important to you, it needs to be in your diary. But we often find that couples don't talk about what the time is FOR. It can be useful to think about three key categories of communication that couples need to put time into: 1. PRAGMATICS AND LOGISTICS Coordinating…

29May 2020 by Nic Beets No Comments

Getting to resolution: In praise of persistence, persuasion & openness

blogs, Communication, Intimacy, Relationships

For many of us, it’s hard to know what we want, let alone express it to our life partner. If we are brave enough to actually tell our partner our preference/desire/fantasy, it can feel crushing when this is not met with immediate and enthusiastic acceptance. Yet, the truth is we are always attracted to someone who is different from us. An inevitable result is that our partner will see things differently, will have different preferences, and organise their priorities in ways that are alien to us. This creates conflict. It doesn’t mean there is anything going wrong. This is where we need to be persistent. To hold on to what we think, want, or feel and keep treating it as important and worthwhile. Yet, just to make the business of…

22Mar 2020 by Paula Dennan No Comments

Supporting your relationship through Covid 19

Relationships, Communication, Covid-19, Intimacy

As this event unfolds we recognize the increased stress that many of us are feeling due to the uncertainty of the impact of Coronavirus on our own lives and those we love. This stress can challenge our relationships in numerous ways. Perry King, one of our team here at Couples Therapy NZ was interviewed by Mindfood and offered advice on being in self isolation with your partner https://www.mindfood.com/article/self-isolation-with-your-significant-other-advice-from-a-couples-therapist/ and another on caring for your kids during lockdown https://www.mindfood.com/article/a-therapists-advice-for-caring-for-kids-in-lockdown/. Furthermore a colleague of ours at The Couples Institute, Stacy Lee, has written two helpful blogs to support our relationships during this stressful time. In her first blog she raises our awareness of the normal struggles that we may face whilst in voluntary isolation (or in lock down) and offers tips on how…

03Dec 2019 by Nic Beets No Comments

Boundaries and Intimacy

Relationships, Communication, Intimacy, Self-awareness

This image encapsulates a really important lesson that many of us struggle to learn. If we want intimacy then we have to risk the vulnerability of authenticity, of being really honest. Among other things, being authentic means saying what is and isn't OK for you. That's what us therapist types mean when we talk about "setting boundaries" The right-hand column in this picture is a good summary of what happens if we don't do this. If we are not looking after ourselves by setting good boundaries we are likely to end up resentful and lonely. So why is it so difficult for many of us to set boundaries? Typically it is because (perhaps unconsciously) we don't believe we are good enough, important enough, loveable enough or safe enough to get…

09Apr 2019 by Nic Beets No Comments

How can I change what I’m not aware of?

Self-awareness

Some people are really practiced at noticing what's going on inside themselves, how they really feel, what they really want, owning how they behave and being able to explain why. For the rest of us, there's therapy. Whether it's couples or individual therapy a big part of the process is recognising and accepting that quite a lot of what we do is outside our conscious awareness. Our mind is like an iceberg where the bit that we can see above the water (the bit we are conscious of) is only a fraction of all that is going on for us. Conscious thought consists of anything we can notice if we direct our attention towards it. We may not be aware of, say, a memory or a feeling until we focus…

20Jan 2019 by Nic Beets No Comments

Selfishness and Self-sacrifice by Nic Beets

Relationships, Communication, Self-awareness

Lots of couples have one person who is more self-centred and one who is more self-sacrificing. It can be very hard to acknowledge the unhelpfulness of these tendancies as there is a lot of judgment about these ways of being. Further more we have usually learned these ways of operating as a self-protection in our formative years and, as a result, just think these ways of being are “normal” and that being “selfish” or “selfless” must be more extreme than what I’m doing. To make matters even harder, if this is a long standing way of protecting yourself, it can be hard for us to imagine what the alternative is. Typically we fear that we will become like our partner (whose behaviour hurts and frustrates us). We fear that "If I’m not self-sacrificing then I’m…