#couplestherapy — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: September 21, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples searching for a third partner report stronger bonds but often ignore the newcomer’s desires

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

Couples who search for a third person to join their sexual or romantic relationships frequently focus on their own pleasure while minimizing the desires of the person they pursue. A recent qualitative analysis of people in these relationships also reveals that the search process itself often strengthens the existing couples’ bonds and communication. The findings were published in the journal Psychology & Sexuality.

In consensual non-monogamy, partners agree to have romantic or sexual encounters with other people. One increasingly visible practice involves established couples seeking a third person to join them. This third person is colloquially known as a unicorn because they are perceived as rare and highly sought after. The practice is often associated with a man and a woman looking for a bisexual woman to join them.

Polyamorous communities sometimes criticize couples who search for a third person. Critics argue these couples often prioritize their own needs and protect their established relationship hierarchy. This framework can treat the newcomer as an accessory to be used and discarded.

Engaging with a third person can provide a positive experience for everyone involved and can challenge traditional relationship norms. Direct research on couples seeking a third person has remained sparse. To better understand this dynamic, researchers led by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, set out to explore the perspectives of the people conducting the search.

The researchers recruited 80 participants through social media and an online survey platform. All respondents indicated they were currently or had previously been part of a couple looking for a third person. Participants answered five open-ended survey questions about who they wanted to join them, what their goals were, and how the search had affected their primary relationship.

The research team analyzed the text responses using a qualitative method. They looked for recurring patterns and grouped the answers into four main categories. These categories covered the desired characteristics of the third person, the effects on the couple, the ideal relationship dynamics, and the reality of their actual encounters.

When describing who they wanted to join them, most participants specifically sought a woman. The majority of these requests specified a bisexual woman. The desires were more varied than the typical stereotype suggests, as nearly a quarter of respondents said gender was irrelevant. Others looked for men, other couples, or specific personality traits like friendliness.

Couples overwhelmingly described the search process as having a positive impact on their relationships. Nearly 80 percent of participants reported that looking for a third person brought them closer together. They noted improvements in communication, honesty, and trust. Discussing fantasies and boundaries openly often heightened their sexual experiences as a couple.

A small minority reported that the search had a negative effect on their primary relationship. In these cases, participants noted that initiating the search coincided with disagreements, pressure, or a breach of trust. Some participants also described struggling with feelings of jealousy when confronting traditional relationship expectations.

The researchers found a major gap between the type of relationship couples wanted and what they actually experienced. A majority of participants desired a predominantly sexual relationship with the third person. They wanted to fulfill specific fantasies, experience novelty, or enhance their own shared pleasure. Many explicitly stated they wanted minimal romantic involvement.

In contrast, about 40 percent wanted an emotional connection, ranging from friendship to a loving, cohabitating relationship. Yet some responses revealed an expectation that the third person would serve mainly to fix a void or provide a service. These participants often specified that the newcomer must respect the existing couple’s priority and not disrupt their bond.

Only a small fraction of the participants mentioned the third person’s own desires or sexual pleasure as an important part of the ideal scenario. When describing their actual relationships with a third person, many couples maintained purely sexual boundaries, often sticking to one-night stands. About a quarter managed to form ongoing social or romantic relationships.

Expressions of care for the third person were rare in the actual relationship descriptions. Only 12 percent of responses mentioned prioritizing the newcomer’s feelings or treating them as an equal. The researchers noted that many couples entered the search focused heavily on their own personal gain.

Couples also frequently reported struggling to find a willing third person. Almost half of the participants described difficulties in their search. Many could not find the right match, faced a scarcity of interested people, or encountered mismatched expectations.

The researchers suggested this lack of success might stem from the couples’ failure to consider the third person’s interests. Treating the search like a request for a specialized service rather than the formation of a new interpersonal connection can easily lead to disappointment for all parties. The authors suggest that couples should express genuine care for the person they seek.

The study relies on self-reported data from a sample of 80 individuals, rather than interviewing both members of the couple. The researchers only surveyed the people doing the searching, leaving out the perspectives of the individuals being pursued. Future research will need to examine the experiences of the third person to provide a complete picture of these relationship dynamics.

The survey prompts may have influenced how participants answered the questions. For instance, the question asking who they wanted to join them included “bisexual woman” as an example, which might have prompted respondents to use that exact phrase. The survey also did not ask about the gender of the participants’ partners, which limits the ability to analyze how the gender makeup of the original couple shapes the search process.

The study, “Searching for a third: couples’ experiences of unicorn pursuit, desire, and ethical tensions,” was authored by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin, Nat Amos, and Joel R. Anderson.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ConsensualNonMonogamy #UnicornPursuit #CouplesTherapy #RelationshipDynamics #OpenRelationships #CommunicationInRelationships #EthicalNonMonogamy #BisexualVisibility #PolyamoryCommunity #RomanticBoundaries

DATE: September 21, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples searching for a third partner report stronger bonds but often ignore the newcomer’s desires

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

Couples who search for a third person to join their sexual or romantic relationships frequently focus on their own pleasure while minimizing the desires of the person they pursue. A recent qualitative analysis of people in these relationships also reveals that the search process itself often strengthens the existing couples’ bonds and communication. The findings were published in the journal Psychology & Sexuality.

In consensual non-monogamy, partners agree to have romantic or sexual encounters with other people. One increasingly visible practice involves established couples seeking a third person to join them. This third person is colloquially known as a unicorn because they are perceived as rare and highly sought after. The practice is often associated with a man and a woman looking for a bisexual woman to join them.

Polyamorous communities sometimes criticize couples who search for a third person. Critics argue these couples often prioritize their own needs and protect their established relationship hierarchy. This framework can treat the newcomer as an accessory to be used and discarded.

Engaging with a third person can provide a positive experience for everyone involved and can challenge traditional relationship norms. Direct research on couples seeking a third person has remained sparse. To better understand this dynamic, researchers led by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, set out to explore the perspectives of the people conducting the search.

The researchers recruited 80 participants through social media and an online survey platform. All respondents indicated they were currently or had previously been part of a couple looking for a third person. Participants answered five open-ended survey questions about who they wanted to join them, what their goals were, and how the search had affected their primary relationship.

The research team analyzed the text responses using a qualitative method. They looked for recurring patterns and grouped the answers into four main categories. These categories covered the desired characteristics of the third person, the effects on the couple, the ideal relationship dynamics, and the reality of their actual encounters.

When describing who they wanted to join them, most participants specifically sought a woman. The majority of these requests specified a bisexual woman. The desires were more varied than the typical stereotype suggests, as nearly a quarter of respondents said gender was irrelevant. Others looked for men, other couples, or specific personality traits like friendliness.

Couples overwhelmingly described the search process as having a positive impact on their relationships. Nearly 80 percent of participants reported that looking for a third person brought them closer together. They noted improvements in communication, honesty, and trust. Discussing fantasies and boundaries openly often heightened their sexual experiences as a couple.

A small minority reported that the search had a negative effect on their primary relationship. In these cases, participants noted that initiating the search coincided with disagreements, pressure, or a breach of trust. Some participants also described struggling with feelings of jealousy when confronting traditional relationship expectations.

The researchers found a major gap between the type of relationship couples wanted and what they actually experienced. A majority of participants desired a predominantly sexual relationship with the third person. They wanted to fulfill specific fantasies, experience novelty, or enhance their own shared pleasure. Many explicitly stated they wanted minimal romantic involvement.

In contrast, about 40 percent wanted an emotional connection, ranging from friendship to a loving, cohabitating relationship. Yet some responses revealed an expectation that the third person would serve mainly to fix a void or provide a service. These participants often specified that the newcomer must respect the existing couple’s priority and not disrupt their bond.

Only a small fraction of the participants mentioned the third person’s own desires or sexual pleasure as an important part of the ideal scenario. When describing their actual relationships with a third person, many couples maintained purely sexual boundaries, often sticking to one-night stands. About a quarter managed to form ongoing social or romantic relationships.

Expressions of care for the third person were rare in the actual relationship descriptions. Only 12 percent of responses mentioned prioritizing the newcomer’s feelings or treating them as an equal. The researchers noted that many couples entered the search focused heavily on their own personal gain.

Couples also frequently reported struggling to find a willing third person. Almost half of the participants described difficulties in their search. Many could not find the right match, faced a scarcity of interested people, or encountered mismatched expectations.

The researchers suggested this lack of success might stem from the couples’ failure to consider the third person’s interests. Treating the search like a request for a specialized service rather than the formation of a new interpersonal connection can easily lead to disappointment for all parties. The authors suggest that couples should express genuine care for the person they seek.

The study relies on self-reported data from a sample of 80 individuals, rather than interviewing both members of the couple. The researchers only surveyed the people doing the searching, leaving out the perspectives of the individuals being pursued. Future research will need to examine the experiences of the third person to provide a complete picture of these relationship dynamics.

The survey prompts may have influenced how participants answered the questions. For instance, the question asking who they wanted to join them included “bisexual woman” as an example, which might have prompted respondents to use that exact phrase. The survey also did not ask about the gender of the participants’ partners, which limits the ability to analyze how the gender makeup of the original couple shapes the search process.

The study, “Searching for a third: couples’ experiences of unicorn pursuit, desire, and ethical tensions,” was authored by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin, Nat Amos, and Joel R. Anderson.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ConsensualNonMonogamy #UnicornPursuit #CouplesTherapy #RelationshipDynamics #OpenRelationships #CommunicationInRelationships #EthicalNonMonogamy #BisexualVisibility #PolyamoryCommunity #RomanticBoundaries

DATE: September 21, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples searching for a third partner report stronger bonds but often ignore the newcomer’s desires

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

Couples who search for a third person to join their sexual or romantic relationships frequently focus on their own pleasure while minimizing the desires of the person they pursue. A recent qualitative analysis of people in these relationships also reveals that the search process itself often strengthens the existing couples’ bonds and communication. The findings were published in the journal Psychology & Sexuality.

In consensual non-monogamy, partners agree to have romantic or sexual encounters with other people. One increasingly visible practice involves established couples seeking a third person to join them. This third person is colloquially known as a unicorn because they are perceived as rare and highly sought after. The practice is often associated with a man and a woman looking for a bisexual woman to join them.

Polyamorous communities sometimes criticize couples who search for a third person. Critics argue these couples often prioritize their own needs and protect their established relationship hierarchy. This framework can treat the newcomer as an accessory to be used and discarded.

Engaging with a third person can provide a positive experience for everyone involved and can challenge traditional relationship norms. Direct research on couples seeking a third person has remained sparse. To better understand this dynamic, researchers led by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, set out to explore the perspectives of the people conducting the search.

The researchers recruited 80 participants through social media and an online survey platform. All respondents indicated they were currently or had previously been part of a couple looking for a third person. Participants answered five open-ended survey questions about who they wanted to join them, what their goals were, and how the search had affected their primary relationship.

The research team analyzed the text responses using a qualitative method. They looked for recurring patterns and grouped the answers into four main categories. These categories covered the desired characteristics of the third person, the effects on the couple, the ideal relationship dynamics, and the reality of their actual encounters.

When describing who they wanted to join them, most participants specifically sought a woman. The majority of these requests specified a bisexual woman. The desires were more varied than the typical stereotype suggests, as nearly a quarter of respondents said gender was irrelevant. Others looked for men, other couples, or specific personality traits like friendliness.

Couples overwhelmingly described the search process as having a positive impact on their relationships. Nearly 80 percent of participants reported that looking for a third person brought them closer together. They noted improvements in communication, honesty, and trust. Discussing fantasies and boundaries openly often heightened their sexual experiences as a couple.

A small minority reported that the search had a negative effect on their primary relationship. In these cases, participants noted that initiating the search coincided with disagreements, pressure, or a breach of trust. Some participants also described struggling with feelings of jealousy when confronting traditional relationship expectations.

The researchers found a major gap between the type of relationship couples wanted and what they actually experienced. A majority of participants desired a predominantly sexual relationship with the third person. They wanted to fulfill specific fantasies, experience novelty, or enhance their own shared pleasure. Many explicitly stated they wanted minimal romantic involvement.

In contrast, about 40 percent wanted an emotional connection, ranging from friendship to a loving, cohabitating relationship. Yet some responses revealed an expectation that the third person would serve mainly to fix a void or provide a service. These participants often specified that the newcomer must respect the existing couple’s priority and not disrupt their bond.

Only a small fraction of the participants mentioned the third person’s own desires or sexual pleasure as an important part of the ideal scenario. When describing their actual relationships with a third person, many couples maintained purely sexual boundaries, often sticking to one-night stands. About a quarter managed to form ongoing social or romantic relationships.

Expressions of care for the third person were rare in the actual relationship descriptions. Only 12 percent of responses mentioned prioritizing the newcomer’s feelings or treating them as an equal. The researchers noted that many couples entered the search focused heavily on their own personal gain.

Couples also frequently reported struggling to find a willing third person. Almost half of the participants described difficulties in their search. Many could not find the right match, faced a scarcity of interested people, or encountered mismatched expectations.

The researchers suggested this lack of success might stem from the couples’ failure to consider the third person’s interests. Treating the search like a request for a specialized service rather than the formation of a new interpersonal connection can easily lead to disappointment for all parties. The authors suggest that couples should express genuine care for the person they seek.

The study relies on self-reported data from a sample of 80 individuals, rather than interviewing both members of the couple. The researchers only surveyed the people doing the searching, leaving out the perspectives of the individuals being pursued. Future research will need to examine the experiences of the third person to provide a complete picture of these relationship dynamics.

The survey prompts may have influenced how participants answered the questions. For instance, the question asking who they wanted to join them included “bisexual woman” as an example, which might have prompted respondents to use that exact phrase. The survey also did not ask about the gender of the participants’ partners, which limits the ability to analyze how the gender makeup of the original couple shapes the search process.

The study, “Searching for a third: couples’ experiences of unicorn pursuit, desire, and ethical tensions,” was authored by Alena Bondarchuk-Mclaughlin, Nat Amos, and Joel R. Anderson.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-searching-for-a-third-partner-report-stronger-bonds-but-often-ignore-the/

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Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron Therapy in Samsung Spot

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Dr. Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron and Carl Schmidt a ‘Couples Therapy’ Session in New Samsung Galaxy Spot
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Dr. Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron and Carl Schmidt a ‘Couples Therapy’ Session in New Samsung Galaxy Spot
#Variety #News #CouplesTherapy #OrnaGuralnik #Samsung

https://variety.com/2026/shopping/news/orna-guralnik-ciara-miller-dylan-efron-samsung-galaxy-ad-1236866000/

Dr. Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron and Carl Schmidt a ‘Couples Therapy’ Session in New Samsung Galaxy Spot
#Variety #News #CouplesTherapy #OrnaGuralnik #Samsung

https://variety.com/2026/shopping/news/orna-guralnik-ciara-miller-dylan-efron-samsung-galaxy-ad-1236866000/

Dr. Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron and Carl Schmidt a ‘Couples Therapy’ Session in New Samsung Galaxy Spot
#Variety #News #CouplesTherapy #OrnaGuralnik #Samsung

https://variety.com/2026/shopping/news/orna-guralnik-ciara-miller-dylan-efron-samsung-galaxy-ad-1236866000/

Dr. Orna Guralnik Gives Ciara Miller, Dylan Efron and Carl Schmidt a ‘Couples Therapy’ Session in New Samsung Galaxy Spot
#Variety #News #CouplesTherapy #OrnaGuralnik #Samsung

https://variety.com/2026/shopping/news/orna-guralnik-ciara-miller-dylan-efron-samsung-galaxy-ad-1236866000/

DATE: September 14, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: MDMA-enhanced couples therapy shows promise for treating PTSD and relationship distress

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

New research suggests that pairing a brief form of couples therapy with MDMA can lead to large improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and relationship satisfaction for veterans and their partners. The preliminary findings, published in Journal of Traumatic Stress, provide evidence that these benefits occur even when only the diagnosed veteran receives the medication.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Symptoms tend to include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. Beyond the individual, PTSD often strains close relationships, undermining communication and a sense of safety between partners.

Veterans are particularly at risk for PTSD due to the stressors of military deployment. Their intimate partners frequently experience secondary effects, leading to elevated rates of relationship distress. To address both the individual symptoms and the relational strain, psychologists developed cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy. This is a type of talk therapy where the person with PTSD and their partner attend sessions together to learn how trauma impacts relationships, how to communicate better, and how to challenge unhelpful trauma-related thoughts.

While this therapy is effective at reducing PTSD symptoms, its ability to improve overall relationship satisfaction tends to be moderate. The brief, eight-session version of this therapy is similarly effective for PTSD but produces even smaller relationship gains.

To boost the relationship benefits, researchers have been looking into MDMA, a psychoactive drug that alters mood and perception. In a clinical setting, MDMA is thought to promote empathy, social connection, and a reduction in fear. For instance, a 2026 trial analysis found that MDMA combined with psychotherapy helps relieve chronic PTSD symptoms, with patients experiencing positive mood changes that aid in their recovery.

A previous study tested the full cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol paired with MDMA, but it gave the medication to both partners. The research team behind the new study, led by Leslie A. Morland at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, recognized that prescribing MDMA to a partner who does not have PTSD is likely impractical under future medical and insurance guidelines. They designed their study to see if providing a brief version of the therapy, and giving MDMA solely to the veteran diagnosed with PTSD, could still yield both individual and relational benefits.

The researchers recruited eight couples from the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. In each couple, the veteran met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, while the partner did not. The veterans had an average age of about 46, and the partners had an average age of roughly 43.

The treatment program lasted about seven weeks. It involved the eight-session brief cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol, but added two day-long MDMA dosing sessions for the veteran. Before the first MDMA session, the couples attended an introductory preparation session.

During the first MDMA session, the veteran was administered an initial dose of 80 milligrams of MDMA, with an optional 40-milligram supplemental dose a few hours later. The second session involved a higher initial dose of 100 milligrams, also with an optional 40-milligram supplement. The partner was invited to join the room for the final one to two hours of these MDMA sessions to connect and share, though they did not receive the drug themselves.

On the morning following each MDMA session, the couple attended an integration session. During these meetings, the veteran shared their experiences and insights from the medication session, and the partner shared their emotional responses. The therapists incorporated strategies from another evidence-based practice, integrative behavioral couple therapy, to help the partners build empathy and shift out of rigid conflict patterns.

The researchers measured outcomes using clinical interviews for PTSD severity and self-report questionnaires for relationship satisfaction. They tracked scores at the start of the study, during the treatment, at the end of the treatment, and at three and six months afterward. When analyzing the results, the researchers controlled for the initial baseline levels of the outcome variables to better isolate the effects of the treatment.

The veterans began the study with an average PTSD severity score of 39.1 on a standard clinical assessment scale, which ranges from 0 to 80. By the end of the treatment, the veterans showed a large drop in symptom severity, with an average decrease of 16.1 points.

Five of the eight veterans demonstrated a clinically meaningful treatment response. Among those five, three no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and two achieved full symptom remission by the end of the study.

Relationship satisfaction also improved for both members of the couple. Veterans saw their relationship satisfaction scores increase by an average of 27.9 points on a questionnaire that measures relationship happiness and quality. The partners experienced an average score increase of 19.8 points.

Out of the six veterans and six partners who started the study with scores indicating clinical relationship distress, four veterans and four partners reached the non-distressed range by the end of treatment. One partner who started in the non-distressed range did experience a decline in relationship satisfaction over the course of the study.

In the follow-up period three and six months later, the researchers noted a slight rebound in PTSD symptoms, with average scores creeping up by about 6.3 points. Relationship satisfaction scores also retreated moderately during this time, though they remained better than the initial baseline scores.

The treatment was generally well-tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported. The most common side effects from the MDMA sessions included headaches, feeling warm, temporary increases in blood pressure, and nausea. All couples completed the full course of treatment, suggesting the program was acceptable and manageable for the participants.

As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study was a pilot trial with a very small sample of only eight couples. Because there was no control group that received the therapy without MDMA or with a placebo, it is difficult to know exactly how much of the improvement was due directly to the medication versus the intensive therapy itself.

The study participants were predominantly white, heterosexual, and highly educated. This means the findings might not apply to couples with different demographic backgrounds or those with less access to resources.

The partial return of symptoms and relationship distress during the follow-up months indicates that an eight-session therapy model might not be enough to produce permanent changes for everyone. Veterans with complex psychiatric histories might need longer treatment or extended integration support to maintain their initial gains.

The study, “Healing together: Results from a pilot trial of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-enhanced cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder,” was authored by Leslie A. Morland, Chandra E. Khalifian, Dimitri Perivoliotis, Bettye Chargin, Al Alam, Tamara R. Wachsman, Dhakshin Ramanathan, Andrew W. Bismark, Christopher Stauffer, Anne C. Wagner, Abigail C. Angkaw, and Kayla C. Knopp.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PTSD #MDMAtherapy #couplestherapy #traumarecovery #veteranshealth #psychotherapy #relationshipgrowth #mentalhealthresearch #CBCT #PTSDresearch

DATE: September 14, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: MDMA-enhanced couples therapy shows promise for treating PTSD and relationship distress

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

New research suggests that pairing a brief form of couples therapy with MDMA can lead to large improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and relationship satisfaction for veterans and their partners. The preliminary findings, published in Journal of Traumatic Stress, provide evidence that these benefits occur even when only the diagnosed veteran receives the medication.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Symptoms tend to include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. Beyond the individual, PTSD often strains close relationships, undermining communication and a sense of safety between partners.

Veterans are particularly at risk for PTSD due to the stressors of military deployment. Their intimate partners frequently experience secondary effects, leading to elevated rates of relationship distress. To address both the individual symptoms and the relational strain, psychologists developed cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy. This is a type of talk therapy where the person with PTSD and their partner attend sessions together to learn how trauma impacts relationships, how to communicate better, and how to challenge unhelpful trauma-related thoughts.

While this therapy is effective at reducing PTSD symptoms, its ability to improve overall relationship satisfaction tends to be moderate. The brief, eight-session version of this therapy is similarly effective for PTSD but produces even smaller relationship gains.

To boost the relationship benefits, researchers have been looking into MDMA, a psychoactive drug that alters mood and perception. In a clinical setting, MDMA is thought to promote empathy, social connection, and a reduction in fear. For instance, a 2026 trial analysis found that MDMA combined with psychotherapy helps relieve chronic PTSD symptoms, with patients experiencing positive mood changes that aid in their recovery.

A previous study tested the full cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol paired with MDMA, but it gave the medication to both partners. The research team behind the new study, led by Leslie A. Morland at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, recognized that prescribing MDMA to a partner who does not have PTSD is likely impractical under future medical and insurance guidelines. They designed their study to see if providing a brief version of the therapy, and giving MDMA solely to the veteran diagnosed with PTSD, could still yield both individual and relational benefits.

The researchers recruited eight couples from the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. In each couple, the veteran met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, while the partner did not. The veterans had an average age of about 46, and the partners had an average age of roughly 43.

The treatment program lasted about seven weeks. It involved the eight-session brief cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol, but added two day-long MDMA dosing sessions for the veteran. Before the first MDMA session, the couples attended an introductory preparation session.

During the first MDMA session, the veteran was administered an initial dose of 80 milligrams of MDMA, with an optional 40-milligram supplemental dose a few hours later. The second session involved a higher initial dose of 100 milligrams, also with an optional 40-milligram supplement. The partner was invited to join the room for the final one to two hours of these MDMA sessions to connect and share, though they did not receive the drug themselves.

On the morning following each MDMA session, the couple attended an integration session. During these meetings, the veteran shared their experiences and insights from the medication session, and the partner shared their emotional responses. The therapists incorporated strategies from another evidence-based practice, integrative behavioral couple therapy, to help the partners build empathy and shift out of rigid conflict patterns.

The researchers measured outcomes using clinical interviews for PTSD severity and self-report questionnaires for relationship satisfaction. They tracked scores at the start of the study, during the treatment, at the end of the treatment, and at three and six months afterward. When analyzing the results, the researchers controlled for the initial baseline levels of the outcome variables to better isolate the effects of the treatment.

The veterans began the study with an average PTSD severity score of 39.1 on a standard clinical assessment scale, which ranges from 0 to 80. By the end of the treatment, the veterans showed a large drop in symptom severity, with an average decrease of 16.1 points.

Five of the eight veterans demonstrated a clinically meaningful treatment response. Among those five, three no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and two achieved full symptom remission by the end of the study.

Relationship satisfaction also improved for both members of the couple. Veterans saw their relationship satisfaction scores increase by an average of 27.9 points on a questionnaire that measures relationship happiness and quality. The partners experienced an average score increase of 19.8 points.

Out of the six veterans and six partners who started the study with scores indicating clinical relationship distress, four veterans and four partners reached the non-distressed range by the end of treatment. One partner who started in the non-distressed range did experience a decline in relationship satisfaction over the course of the study.

In the follow-up period three and six months later, the researchers noted a slight rebound in PTSD symptoms, with average scores creeping up by about 6.3 points. Relationship satisfaction scores also retreated moderately during this time, though they remained better than the initial baseline scores.

The treatment was generally well-tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported. The most common side effects from the MDMA sessions included headaches, feeling warm, temporary increases in blood pressure, and nausea. All couples completed the full course of treatment, suggesting the program was acceptable and manageable for the participants.

As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study was a pilot trial with a very small sample of only eight couples. Because there was no control group that received the therapy without MDMA or with a placebo, it is difficult to know exactly how much of the improvement was due directly to the medication versus the intensive therapy itself.

The study participants were predominantly white, heterosexual, and highly educated. This means the findings might not apply to couples with different demographic backgrounds or those with less access to resources.

The partial return of symptoms and relationship distress during the follow-up months indicates that an eight-session therapy model might not be enough to produce permanent changes for everyone. Veterans with complex psychiatric histories might need longer treatment or extended integration support to maintain their initial gains.

The study, “Healing together: Results from a pilot trial of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-enhanced cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder,” was authored by Leslie A. Morland, Chandra E. Khalifian, Dimitri Perivoliotis, Bettye Chargin, Al Alam, Tamara R. Wachsman, Dhakshin Ramanathan, Andrew W. Bismark, Christopher Stauffer, Anne C. Wagner, Abigail C. Angkaw, and Kayla C. Knopp.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

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DATE: September 14, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: MDMA-enhanced couples therapy shows promise for treating PTSD and relationship distress

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

New research suggests that pairing a brief form of couples therapy with MDMA can lead to large improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and relationship satisfaction for veterans and their partners. The preliminary findings, published in Journal of Traumatic Stress, provide evidence that these benefits occur even when only the diagnosed veteran receives the medication.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Symptoms tend to include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. Beyond the individual, PTSD often strains close relationships, undermining communication and a sense of safety between partners.

Veterans are particularly at risk for PTSD due to the stressors of military deployment. Their intimate partners frequently experience secondary effects, leading to elevated rates of relationship distress. To address both the individual symptoms and the relational strain, psychologists developed cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy. This is a type of talk therapy where the person with PTSD and their partner attend sessions together to learn how trauma impacts relationships, how to communicate better, and how to challenge unhelpful trauma-related thoughts.

While this therapy is effective at reducing PTSD symptoms, its ability to improve overall relationship satisfaction tends to be moderate. The brief, eight-session version of this therapy is similarly effective for PTSD but produces even smaller relationship gains.

To boost the relationship benefits, researchers have been looking into MDMA, a psychoactive drug that alters mood and perception. In a clinical setting, MDMA is thought to promote empathy, social connection, and a reduction in fear. For instance, a 2026 trial analysis found that MDMA combined with psychotherapy helps relieve chronic PTSD symptoms, with patients experiencing positive mood changes that aid in their recovery.

A previous study tested the full cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol paired with MDMA, but it gave the medication to both partners. The research team behind the new study, led by Leslie A. Morland at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, recognized that prescribing MDMA to a partner who does not have PTSD is likely impractical under future medical and insurance guidelines. They designed their study to see if providing a brief version of the therapy, and giving MDMA solely to the veteran diagnosed with PTSD, could still yield both individual and relational benefits.

The researchers recruited eight couples from the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. In each couple, the veteran met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, while the partner did not. The veterans had an average age of about 46, and the partners had an average age of roughly 43.

The treatment program lasted about seven weeks. It involved the eight-session brief cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy protocol, but added two day-long MDMA dosing sessions for the veteran. Before the first MDMA session, the couples attended an introductory preparation session.

During the first MDMA session, the veteran was administered an initial dose of 80 milligrams of MDMA, with an optional 40-milligram supplemental dose a few hours later. The second session involved a higher initial dose of 100 milligrams, also with an optional 40-milligram supplement. The partner was invited to join the room for the final one to two hours of these MDMA sessions to connect and share, though they did not receive the drug themselves.

On the morning following each MDMA session, the couple attended an integration session. During these meetings, the veteran shared their experiences and insights from the medication session, and the partner shared their emotional responses. The therapists incorporated strategies from another evidence-based practice, integrative behavioral couple therapy, to help the partners build empathy and shift out of rigid conflict patterns.

The researchers measured outcomes using clinical interviews for PTSD severity and self-report questionnaires for relationship satisfaction. They tracked scores at the start of the study, during the treatment, at the end of the treatment, and at three and six months afterward. When analyzing the results, the researchers controlled for the initial baseline levels of the outcome variables to better isolate the effects of the treatment.

The veterans began the study with an average PTSD severity score of 39.1 on a standard clinical assessment scale, which ranges from 0 to 80. By the end of the treatment, the veterans showed a large drop in symptom severity, with an average decrease of 16.1 points.

Five of the eight veterans demonstrated a clinically meaningful treatment response. Among those five, three no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and two achieved full symptom remission by the end of the study.

Relationship satisfaction also improved for both members of the couple. Veterans saw their relationship satisfaction scores increase by an average of 27.9 points on a questionnaire that measures relationship happiness and quality. The partners experienced an average score increase of 19.8 points.

Out of the six veterans and six partners who started the study with scores indicating clinical relationship distress, four veterans and four partners reached the non-distressed range by the end of treatment. One partner who started in the non-distressed range did experience a decline in relationship satisfaction over the course of the study.

In the follow-up period three and six months later, the researchers noted a slight rebound in PTSD symptoms, with average scores creeping up by about 6.3 points. Relationship satisfaction scores also retreated moderately during this time, though they remained better than the initial baseline scores.

The treatment was generally well-tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported. The most common side effects from the MDMA sessions included headaches, feeling warm, temporary increases in blood pressure, and nausea. All couples completed the full course of treatment, suggesting the program was acceptable and manageable for the participants.

As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study was a pilot trial with a very small sample of only eight couples. Because there was no control group that received the therapy without MDMA or with a placebo, it is difficult to know exactly how much of the improvement was due directly to the medication versus the intensive therapy itself.

The study participants were predominantly white, heterosexual, and highly educated. This means the findings might not apply to couples with different demographic backgrounds or those with less access to resources.

The partial return of symptoms and relationship distress during the follow-up months indicates that an eight-session therapy model might not be enough to produce permanent changes for everyone. Veterans with complex psychiatric histories might need longer treatment or extended integration support to maintain their initial gains.

The study, “Healing together: Results from a pilot trial of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-enhanced cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder,” was authored by Leslie A. Morland, Chandra E. Khalifian, Dimitri Perivoliotis, Bettye Chargin, Al Alam, Tamara R. Wachsman, Dhakshin Ramanathan, Andrew W. Bismark, Christopher Stauffer, Anne C. Wagner, Abigail C. Angkaw, and Kayla C. Knopp.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/mdma-enhanced-couples-therapy-shows-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-relationship-distress/

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DATE: August 28, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples who share awe-inspiring experiences report greater relationship flourishing

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

Experiencing feelings of awe alongside a romantic partner is linked to greater relationship satisfaction and depth. A recent study suggests that these shared moments of wonder foster a stronger sense of connection and relational growth, providing benefits beyond what individual experiences of awe offer. The research was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

Awe is an emotion triggered by encountering something vast that challenges a person’s existing understanding of the world. This feeling can arise from seeing a breathtaking natural landscape, listening to a moving piece of music, or experiencing a moment of profound scientific insight. Compared to simple happiness, awe tends to be a self-transcendent emotion. It reduces a person’s focus on themselves and encourages open-mindedness.

A 2022 review detailed how experiencing awe shifts attention outward, fostering social connection, a heightened sense of meaning, and prosocial behavior. Expanding on these personal effects, a study covered by PsyPost in 2022 indicated that awe increases a person’s motivation to pursue their authentic self, driven by these very feelings of self-transcendence.

While prior research highlights the personal benefits of awe, studies focusing on individually induced awe in romantic contexts have yielded mixed results. The authors of the new study reasoned that awe might be most impactful for couples when it is a shared experience. Sharing emotional events is known to intensify feelings and help partners build intimacy.

“My research focuses on awe and its relationship to psychological depth,” said lead author Matteo Perini, a PhD candidate in social and cultural psychology at the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University. “One idea that has become central to my work is that awe may be one route into depth: by confronting us with something vast that goes beyond our current frame of reference, it may push us to revise our mental models and engage with things at a deeper level.”

“This study extends that question into romantic relationships: can awe, when experienced together, help two people connect more deeply?” Perini added.

The research involved two online studies. The first study recruited 198 adults who were in a romantic relationship. To participate, individuals had to be currently in love and report high levels of passionate love. The participants completed questionnaires measuring their general tendency to experience awe in daily life, the awe they experienced specifically with their partner, and their overall relationship satisfaction.

The scientists also measured self-other overlap, which is the degree to which a person feels their own identity merges with their partner’s identity. Participants indicated this overlap by adjusting a digital image of two circles, one representing themselves and the other representing their partner, until the circles reflected their perceived level of connection.

The authors found that shared awe positively predicted relationship satisfaction, passionate love, and self-other overlap. When the researchers looked at general awe and shared awe together in the same statistical model, only shared awe remained a positive predictor of these relationship outcomes. A person’s general tendency to experience awe on their own did not account for unique positive variance when shared awe was considered.

To expand on these initial findings, the researchers conducted a second study with 306 romantically involved adults. In this group, participants did not have to report being currently in love. The scientists measured the same concepts as the first study but added new variables to capture different layers of relationship depth. These included relationship flourishing, which reflects a meaning-oriented dimension of relationship growth, such as seeking out shared purpose rather than just feeling pleasant.

The team also measured a person’s willingness to sacrifice for their partner and relational quiet ego. Relational quiet ego describes a state of reduced self-focus combined with greater perspective-taking and inclusivity within the relationship. To ensure shared awe was distinct from simply having fun together or doing novel things, the researchers also tracked shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities, such as visiting unfamiliar locations or attending collective events.

The results of the second study indicated that shared awe was a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction, even when accounting for shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities. Shared awe also positively predicted self-other overlap, willingness to sacrifice, relational quiet ego, and relationship flourishing.

The scientists analyzed how shared awe might link to relationship satisfaction through these different psychological pathways. They found that the association was primarily explained by indirect pathways involving relationship flourishing, self-other overlap, and a willingness to sacrifice. Relationship flourishing emerged as the strongest pathway, suggesting that shared awe is closely tied to a sense of shared meaning and relational growth. Relational quiet ego did not provide unique explanatory value in this specific model.

“I was surprised by how strongly shared awe was related to relationship flourishing,” Perini told PsyPost. “In our second study, shared awe alone accounted for about half of the variance in flourishing, which was considerably stronger than I had expected.”

“Sometimes these strong correlations are observed because two scales are very similar to each other, but in this case the two measures were substantially different, one about shared experiences of awe, and the other about meaning and growth in the relationship,” he explained.

Interestingly, when shared awe was accounted for, a person’s individual tendency to experience awe became negatively associated with relationship satisfaction.

“I would treat that particular finding cautiously until it is replicated, but it raises an interesting possibility,” Perini said. “Awe may be especially beneficial for a relationship when it becomes something partners share, rather than something one person primarily experiences outside the relationship.”

The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2025, which found that awe promotes a deep sense of psychological overlap and unity with large social groups. The new study suggests a similar merging process happens on an interpersonal level between romantic partners.

“I wouldn’t translate this into ‘couples should constantly chase spectacular experiences,'” Perini noted. “But it does suggest that there may be value in making room for wonder together, whether through nature, art, music, travel, learning something new, spiritual experiences, or simply encountering something familiar in a different way.”

The data relied solely on self-reported questionnaires from one partner in the relationship. The authors recommended that future studies collect data from both partners to see how they might agree or differ in their perceptions of shared wonder.

The researchers also noted a few details about the study’s design that affect how the results can be interpreted. “The biggest caveat is that the two studies in this paper are cross-sectional and rely on self-report, so they cannot establish that shared awe causes better relationships,” Perini explained. “The reverse is also plausible: people who are already in satisfying and deeper relationships may simply be more likely to experience their lives together as awe-inspiring.”

“Since completing this work, however, we have also run a separate experiment in which dyads were exposed to awe, and we observed that participants in the awe condition were able to connect at a deeper level,” Perini said. “Those results are not part of the present paper and we are still preparing them for publication, but they provide experimental support for the broader idea that awe can affect interpersonal depth, rather than merely being correlated with it.”

Moving forward, the researchers hope to explore the exact role these shared emotional experiences play in long-term romantic bonds. Observing couples in their daily lives or testing awe-inducing activities over time could help determine whether awe fundamentally changes the level at which people reflect and connect.

“We are currently preparing another paper on what we call partner-induced awe: the experience of feeling awe toward one’s own romantic partner,” Perini said. “Our findings suggest that this may matter even in long-term relationships.”

“To me, this pushes against the idea that awe belongs only to spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, or that it is something we direct toward powerful or distant people,” he explained. “In long-term relationships, that capacity may be particularly valuable because familiarity can so easily turn into taking the other person for granted.”

The study, “United in wonder: shared awe is associated with satisfaction and depth in romantic relationships,” was authored by Matteo Perini, Lou Mier, Hein van Schie, Jasper de Groot, and Johan Karremans.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SharedAwe #RomanticRelationshipGoals #RelationshipSatisfaction #CouplesTherapy #AweInRelationships #RelationalDepth #SelfOtherOverlap #RelationshipFlourishing #MeaningTogether #RelationshipScience

DATE: August 28, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples who share awe-inspiring experiences report greater relationship flourishing

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

Experiencing feelings of awe alongside a romantic partner is linked to greater relationship satisfaction and depth. A recent study suggests that these shared moments of wonder foster a stronger sense of connection and relational growth, providing benefits beyond what individual experiences of awe offer. The research was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

Awe is an emotion triggered by encountering something vast that challenges a person’s existing understanding of the world. This feeling can arise from seeing a breathtaking natural landscape, listening to a moving piece of music, or experiencing a moment of profound scientific insight. Compared to simple happiness, awe tends to be a self-transcendent emotion. It reduces a person’s focus on themselves and encourages open-mindedness.

A 2022 review detailed how experiencing awe shifts attention outward, fostering social connection, a heightened sense of meaning, and prosocial behavior. Expanding on these personal effects, a study covered by PsyPost in 2022 indicated that awe increases a person’s motivation to pursue their authentic self, driven by these very feelings of self-transcendence.

While prior research highlights the personal benefits of awe, studies focusing on individually induced awe in romantic contexts have yielded mixed results. The authors of the new study reasoned that awe might be most impactful for couples when it is a shared experience. Sharing emotional events is known to intensify feelings and help partners build intimacy.

“My research focuses on awe and its relationship to psychological depth,” said lead author Matteo Perini, a PhD candidate in social and cultural psychology at the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University. “One idea that has become central to my work is that awe may be one route into depth: by confronting us with something vast that goes beyond our current frame of reference, it may push us to revise our mental models and engage with things at a deeper level.”

“This study extends that question into romantic relationships: can awe, when experienced together, help two people connect more deeply?” Perini added.

The research involved two online studies. The first study recruited 198 adults who were in a romantic relationship. To participate, individuals had to be currently in love and report high levels of passionate love. The participants completed questionnaires measuring their general tendency to experience awe in daily life, the awe they experienced specifically with their partner, and their overall relationship satisfaction.

The scientists also measured self-other overlap, which is the degree to which a person feels their own identity merges with their partner’s identity. Participants indicated this overlap by adjusting a digital image of two circles, one representing themselves and the other representing their partner, until the circles reflected their perceived level of connection.

The authors found that shared awe positively predicted relationship satisfaction, passionate love, and self-other overlap. When the researchers looked at general awe and shared awe together in the same statistical model, only shared awe remained a positive predictor of these relationship outcomes. A person’s general tendency to experience awe on their own did not account for unique positive variance when shared awe was considered.

To expand on these initial findings, the researchers conducted a second study with 306 romantically involved adults. In this group, participants did not have to report being currently in love. The scientists measured the same concepts as the first study but added new variables to capture different layers of relationship depth. These included relationship flourishing, which reflects a meaning-oriented dimension of relationship growth, such as seeking out shared purpose rather than just feeling pleasant.

The team also measured a person’s willingness to sacrifice for their partner and relational quiet ego. Relational quiet ego describes a state of reduced self-focus combined with greater perspective-taking and inclusivity within the relationship. To ensure shared awe was distinct from simply having fun together or doing novel things, the researchers also tracked shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities, such as visiting unfamiliar locations or attending collective events.

The results of the second study indicated that shared awe was a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction, even when accounting for shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities. Shared awe also positively predicted self-other overlap, willingness to sacrifice, relational quiet ego, and relationship flourishing.

The scientists analyzed how shared awe might link to relationship satisfaction through these different psychological pathways. They found that the association was primarily explained by indirect pathways involving relationship flourishing, self-other overlap, and a willingness to sacrifice. Relationship flourishing emerged as the strongest pathway, suggesting that shared awe is closely tied to a sense of shared meaning and relational growth. Relational quiet ego did not provide unique explanatory value in this specific model.

“I was surprised by how strongly shared awe was related to relationship flourishing,” Perini told PsyPost. “In our second study, shared awe alone accounted for about half of the variance in flourishing, which was considerably stronger than I had expected.”

“Sometimes these strong correlations are observed because two scales are very similar to each other, but in this case the two measures were substantially different, one about shared experiences of awe, and the other about meaning and growth in the relationship,” he explained.

Interestingly, when shared awe was accounted for, a person’s individual tendency to experience awe became negatively associated with relationship satisfaction.

“I would treat that particular finding cautiously until it is replicated, but it raises an interesting possibility,” Perini said. “Awe may be especially beneficial for a relationship when it becomes something partners share, rather than something one person primarily experiences outside the relationship.”

The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2025, which found that awe promotes a deep sense of psychological overlap and unity with large social groups. The new study suggests a similar merging process happens on an interpersonal level between romantic partners.

“I wouldn’t translate this into ‘couples should constantly chase spectacular experiences,'” Perini noted. “But it does suggest that there may be value in making room for wonder together, whether through nature, art, music, travel, learning something new, spiritual experiences, or simply encountering something familiar in a different way.”

The data relied solely on self-reported questionnaires from one partner in the relationship. The authors recommended that future studies collect data from both partners to see how they might agree or differ in their perceptions of shared wonder.

The researchers also noted a few details about the study’s design that affect how the results can be interpreted. “The biggest caveat is that the two studies in this paper are cross-sectional and rely on self-report, so they cannot establish that shared awe causes better relationships,” Perini explained. “The reverse is also plausible: people who are already in satisfying and deeper relationships may simply be more likely to experience their lives together as awe-inspiring.”

“Since completing this work, however, we have also run a separate experiment in which dyads were exposed to awe, and we observed that participants in the awe condition were able to connect at a deeper level,” Perini said. “Those results are not part of the present paper and we are still preparing them for publication, but they provide experimental support for the broader idea that awe can affect interpersonal depth, rather than merely being correlated with it.”

Moving forward, the researchers hope to explore the exact role these shared emotional experiences play in long-term romantic bonds. Observing couples in their daily lives or testing awe-inducing activities over time could help determine whether awe fundamentally changes the level at which people reflect and connect.

“We are currently preparing another paper on what we call partner-induced awe: the experience of feeling awe toward one’s own romantic partner,” Perini said. “Our findings suggest that this may matter even in long-term relationships.”

“To me, this pushes against the idea that awe belongs only to spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, or that it is something we direct toward powerful or distant people,” he explained. “In long-term relationships, that capacity may be particularly valuable because familiarity can so easily turn into taking the other person for granted.”

The study, “United in wonder: shared awe is associated with satisfaction and depth in romantic relationships,” was authored by Matteo Perini, Lou Mier, Hein van Schie, Jasper de Groot, and Johan Karremans.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SharedAwe #RomanticRelationshipGoals #RelationshipSatisfaction #CouplesTherapy #AweInRelationships #RelationalDepth #SelfOtherOverlap #RelationshipFlourishing #MeaningTogether #RelationshipScience

DATE: August 28, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Couples who share awe-inspiring experiences report greater relationship flourishing

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

Experiencing feelings of awe alongside a romantic partner is linked to greater relationship satisfaction and depth. A recent study suggests that these shared moments of wonder foster a stronger sense of connection and relational growth, providing benefits beyond what individual experiences of awe offer. The research was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

Awe is an emotion triggered by encountering something vast that challenges a person’s existing understanding of the world. This feeling can arise from seeing a breathtaking natural landscape, listening to a moving piece of music, or experiencing a moment of profound scientific insight. Compared to simple happiness, awe tends to be a self-transcendent emotion. It reduces a person’s focus on themselves and encourages open-mindedness.

A 2022 review detailed how experiencing awe shifts attention outward, fostering social connection, a heightened sense of meaning, and prosocial behavior. Expanding on these personal effects, a study covered by PsyPost in 2022 indicated that awe increases a person’s motivation to pursue their authentic self, driven by these very feelings of self-transcendence.

While prior research highlights the personal benefits of awe, studies focusing on individually induced awe in romantic contexts have yielded mixed results. The authors of the new study reasoned that awe might be most impactful for couples when it is a shared experience. Sharing emotional events is known to intensify feelings and help partners build intimacy.

“My research focuses on awe and its relationship to psychological depth,” said lead author Matteo Perini, a PhD candidate in social and cultural psychology at the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University. “One idea that has become central to my work is that awe may be one route into depth: by confronting us with something vast that goes beyond our current frame of reference, it may push us to revise our mental models and engage with things at a deeper level.”

“This study extends that question into romantic relationships: can awe, when experienced together, help two people connect more deeply?” Perini added.

The research involved two online studies. The first study recruited 198 adults who were in a romantic relationship. To participate, individuals had to be currently in love and report high levels of passionate love. The participants completed questionnaires measuring their general tendency to experience awe in daily life, the awe they experienced specifically with their partner, and their overall relationship satisfaction.

The scientists also measured self-other overlap, which is the degree to which a person feels their own identity merges with their partner’s identity. Participants indicated this overlap by adjusting a digital image of two circles, one representing themselves and the other representing their partner, until the circles reflected their perceived level of connection.

The authors found that shared awe positively predicted relationship satisfaction, passionate love, and self-other overlap. When the researchers looked at general awe and shared awe together in the same statistical model, only shared awe remained a positive predictor of these relationship outcomes. A person’s general tendency to experience awe on their own did not account for unique positive variance when shared awe was considered.

To expand on these initial findings, the researchers conducted a second study with 306 romantically involved adults. In this group, participants did not have to report being currently in love. The scientists measured the same concepts as the first study but added new variables to capture different layers of relationship depth. These included relationship flourishing, which reflects a meaning-oriented dimension of relationship growth, such as seeking out shared purpose rather than just feeling pleasant.

The team also measured a person’s willingness to sacrifice for their partner and relational quiet ego. Relational quiet ego describes a state of reduced self-focus combined with greater perspective-taking and inclusivity within the relationship. To ensure shared awe was distinct from simply having fun together or doing novel things, the researchers also tracked shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities, such as visiting unfamiliar locations or attending collective events.

The results of the second study indicated that shared awe was a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction, even when accounting for shared amusement and the frequency of awe-related activities. Shared awe also positively predicted self-other overlap, willingness to sacrifice, relational quiet ego, and relationship flourishing.

The scientists analyzed how shared awe might link to relationship satisfaction through these different psychological pathways. They found that the association was primarily explained by indirect pathways involving relationship flourishing, self-other overlap, and a willingness to sacrifice. Relationship flourishing emerged as the strongest pathway, suggesting that shared awe is closely tied to a sense of shared meaning and relational growth. Relational quiet ego did not provide unique explanatory value in this specific model.

“I was surprised by how strongly shared awe was related to relationship flourishing,” Perini told PsyPost. “In our second study, shared awe alone accounted for about half of the variance in flourishing, which was considerably stronger than I had expected.”

“Sometimes these strong correlations are observed because two scales are very similar to each other, but in this case the two measures were substantially different, one about shared experiences of awe, and the other about meaning and growth in the relationship,” he explained.

Interestingly, when shared awe was accounted for, a person’s individual tendency to experience awe became negatively associated with relationship satisfaction.

“I would treat that particular finding cautiously until it is replicated, but it raises an interesting possibility,” Perini said. “Awe may be especially beneficial for a relationship when it becomes something partners share, rather than something one person primarily experiences outside the relationship.”

The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2025, which found that awe promotes a deep sense of psychological overlap and unity with large social groups. The new study suggests a similar merging process happens on an interpersonal level between romantic partners.

“I wouldn’t translate this into ‘couples should constantly chase spectacular experiences,'” Perini noted. “But it does suggest that there may be value in making room for wonder together, whether through nature, art, music, travel, learning something new, spiritual experiences, or simply encountering something familiar in a different way.”

The data relied solely on self-reported questionnaires from one partner in the relationship. The authors recommended that future studies collect data from both partners to see how they might agree or differ in their perceptions of shared wonder.

The researchers also noted a few details about the study’s design that affect how the results can be interpreted. “The biggest caveat is that the two studies in this paper are cross-sectional and rely on self-report, so they cannot establish that shared awe causes better relationships,” Perini explained. “The reverse is also plausible: people who are already in satisfying and deeper relationships may simply be more likely to experience their lives together as awe-inspiring.”

“Since completing this work, however, we have also run a separate experiment in which dyads were exposed to awe, and we observed that participants in the awe condition were able to connect at a deeper level,” Perini said. “Those results are not part of the present paper and we are still preparing them for publication, but they provide experimental support for the broader idea that awe can affect interpersonal depth, rather than merely being correlated with it.”

Moving forward, the researchers hope to explore the exact role these shared emotional experiences play in long-term romantic bonds. Observing couples in their daily lives or testing awe-inducing activities over time could help determine whether awe fundamentally changes the level at which people reflect and connect.

“We are currently preparing another paper on what we call partner-induced awe: the experience of feeling awe toward one’s own romantic partner,” Perini said. “Our findings suggest that this may matter even in long-term relationships.”

“To me, this pushes against the idea that awe belongs only to spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, or that it is something we direct toward powerful or distant people,” he explained. “In long-term relationships, that capacity may be particularly valuable because familiarity can so easily turn into taking the other person for granted.”

The study, “United in wonder: shared awe is associated with satisfaction and depth in romantic relationships,” was authored by Matteo Perini, Lou Mier, Hein van Schie, Jasper de Groot, and Johan Karremans.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/couples-who-share-awe-inspiring-experiences-report-greater-relationship-flourishing/

-------------------------------------------------

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SharedAwe #RomanticRelationshipGoals #RelationshipSatisfaction #CouplesTherapy #AweInRelationships #RelationalDepth #SelfOtherOverlap #RelationshipFlourishing #MeaningTogether #RelationshipScience

ROOTS 2026: Orna Guralnik, gazda docu-seriei „#CouplesTherapy”, vine în premieră la #București.

🔗 https://stirileprotv.ro/cultura/roots-2026-orna-guralnik-gazda-docu-seriei-couples-therapy-vine-in-premiera-la-bucuresti.html

#Știri #România #București

ROOTS 2026: Orna Guralnik, gazda docu-seriei „#CouplesTherapy”, vine în premieră la #București.

🔗 https://stirileprotv.ro/cultura/roots-2026-orna-guralnik-gazda-docu-seriei-couples-therapy-vine-in-premiera-la-bucuresti.html

#Știri #România #București

‘The Traitors’ Dominates Critics Choice Real TV Awards

“The Traitors” dominated the Critics Choice Real TV Awards, winning in the Best Competition Series category and also…
#UnitedStates #US #USA #alancumming #america #AppleTV+ #CouplesTherapy #CriticsChoiceAssociation #DiscoveryChannel #Entertainment #espn #FoodNetwork #HallmarkChannel #health #LisaRinna #NationalGeographic #nbc #Netflix #RuPaul'sDragRace #sports #TheTraitors #Topchef #unitedstatesofamerica
https://www.europesays.com/3037822/

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy stays real https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/podcast/episode-503-couples-therapy-behind-scenes/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

După Esther Perel, ROOTS revine cu o nouă ediție amplă și cu o invitată extraordinară: Orna Guralnik, psiholog clinician și gazda docu-seriei „Couples Therapy“, vine pentru prima dată în România. 💛

Pe 3–4 octombrie 2026, la București, ROOTS propune două zile de conversații despre relații, vulnerabilitate, atașament, conflict și reconectare.

🔗 https://buff.ly/BpLMI6K
#ROOTS2026 #OrnaGuralnik #CouplesTherapy #Psihologie #PaginaDePsihologie

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

ICYMI: How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

How Couples Therapy’s directors work to create empathy, not villainy https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2026/05/couples-therapy-season-5-directors-interview/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #CouplesTherapy #RealityTV

There is a real difference between a therapist who is warm toward all backgrounds and one who treats race and culture as structural to the relationship.

A 2025 Family Process study calls this a "racially conscious, socioculturally attuned" approach. Evidence suggests it matters more than which specific method the therapist uses. Screen before you commit. Three or four sessions tells you whether they explore your cross-racial dynamic or work around it.

#CouplesTherapy

Paramount+ May 2026 Schedule: New Movies, TV Shows, & Sports

Link: https://film-book.com/paramount-may-2026-schedule-new-movies-tv-shows-sports/?fsp_sid=192141

#AmericanMusicAwards #BattlestarGalactica #caprica #CIA #CouplesTherapy #CriminalMindsEvolution #DMV #DuttonRanch #FridayNightLights #GeorgieandMandy’sFirstMarriage #Marshals #NCIS #NCISOrigins #NCISSydney #Paramount #RuPaul’sDragRaceAllStars #SkyMed #Survivor #TheChi #TheNeighborhood #Tracker #TylerPerry’sZatima #UFC #Watson

Paramount+ May 2026 Schedule: New Movies, TV Shows, & Sports

Link: https://film-book.com/paramount-may-2026-schedule-new-movies-tv-shows-sports/?fsp_sid=192141

#AmericanMusicAwards #BattlestarGalactica #caprica #CIA #CouplesTherapy #CriminalMindsEvolution #DMV #DuttonRanch #FridayNightLights #GeorgieandMandy’sFirstMarriage #Marshals #NCIS #NCISOrigins #NCISSydney #Paramount #RuPaul’sDragRaceAllStars #SkyMed #Survivor #TheChi #TheNeighborhood #Tracker #TylerPerry’sZatima #UFC #Watson

Paramount+ May 2026 Schedule: New Movies, TV Shows, & Sports

Link: https://film-book.com/paramount-may-2026-schedule-new-movies-tv-shows-sports/?fsp_sid=192141

#AmericanMusicAwards #BattlestarGalactica #caprica #CIA #CouplesTherapy #CriminalMindsEvolution #DMV #DuttonRanch #FridayNightLights #GeorgieandMandy’sFirstMarriage #Marshals #NCIS #NCISOrigins #NCISSydney #Paramount #RuPaul’sDragRaceAllStars #SkyMed #Survivor #TheChi #TheNeighborhood #Tracker #TylerPerry’sZatima #UFC #Watson

Paramount+ May 2026 Schedule: New Movies, TV Shows, & Sports

Link: https://film-book.com/paramount-may-2026-schedule-new-movies-tv-shows-sports/?fsp_sid=192141

#AmericanMusicAwards #BattlestarGalactica #caprica #CIA #CouplesTherapy #CriminalMindsEvolution #DMV #DuttonRanch #FridayNightLights #GeorgieandMandy’sFirstMarriage #Marshals #NCIS #NCISOrigins #NCISSydney #Paramount #RuPaul’sDragRaceAllStars #SkyMed #Survivor #TheChi #TheNeighborhood #Tracker #TylerPerry’sZatima #UFC #Watson

Couples Therapy ~ C. Napier

#couplestherapy #4horsemen #psychology #comicart #thetracer

Couples Therapy ~ C. Napier

#couplestherapy #4horsemen #psychology #comicart #thetracer

Couples are more consistent when therapy fits into daily life. When support is nearby, showing up feels doable instead of disruptive, which often determines whether progress lasts.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AoEme

#TheCouplesClinic #CouplesTherapy

Mel Robbins and Charles Duhigg explain how to avoid 'kitchen sinking' arguments with your spouse

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/mel-robbins-and-charles-duhigg-explain-how-to-avoid-kitchen-sinking-arguments-with-your-spouse

Ich jetzt meine Beziehungsberatungs-Website übersetzt und freue mich über Anfragen und Weiterverbreitung

I have translated my relationship counseling website, look forward to enquiries and would be happy for people to spread the word

• Deutsch: katharina-debus.de/beziehungsb…
• English: katharina-debus.de/relationshi…

Ich biete Beziehungsberatung in Berlin und online für alle Geschlechterkonstellationen und alle einvernehmlichen Lebensweisen, Beziehungsmodelle und Sexualitäten. Wichtig ist mir, nicht mit Schablonen einer ‚guten‘ oder ‚richtigen‘ Beziehung zu arbeiten – weder entlang gesamtgesellschaftlicher Normalitätsvorstellungen noch entlang von Community-Normen –, sondern Umgangsweisen zu entwickeln, die zu den beteiligten Menschen passen. Mein Ziel ist die Unterstützung hin zu Beziehungen, die allen Beteiligten guttun und auch mit Herausforderungen umgehen können. Dabei arbeite ich vielfaltsorientiert, diskriminierungsreflektiert und herrschaftskritisch/machtkritisch.

I offer relationship counseling in Berlin and online for all gender constellations and all consensual relationship models and sexualities. Rather than working with templates of ‘good’ or ‘right’ relationships—either based on societal or community norms—I aim to support you to co-create approaches that correspond to your individual wishes, needs, and boundaries. My goal is to assist in fostering relationships that are beneficial to all involved and can also handle challenges. In this process, I appreciate diversity and strive to take into account and mitigate effects of discrimination, inequality and power imbalances on relationships.

#Beziehungsberatung #RelationshipCounseling #paarberatung #Paartherapie #couples-counseling #couples-therapy #bedürfnisorientiert #GeschlechtlicheVielfalt #SexuelleVielfalt #RomantischeVielfalt #queerinklusiv #queersensibel #queer #Beziehungsvielfalt #genderdiversity #sexualdiversity #romanticdiversity #relationshipdiversity #vielfaltsorientiert #Polyamorie #polyamory #ethischeNichtmonogamie #EthicalNonMonogamy #kink-aware #kinksensibel #kinkinklusiv #kinkinclusive #infektionsschutzsensibel #CovidCautious #diskriminierungssensibel #transinklusiv #geschlechterreflektiert #herrschaftskritisch #machtkritisch

Ich jetzt meine Beziehungsberatungs-Website übersetzt und freue mich über Anfragen und Weiterverbreitung

I have translated my relationship counseling website, look forward to enquiries and would be happy for people to spread the word

• Deutsch: katharina-debus.de/beziehungsb…
• English: katharina-debus.de/relationshi…

Ich biete Beziehungsberatung in Berlin und online für alle Geschlechterkonstellationen und alle einvernehmlichen Lebensweisen, Beziehungsmodelle und Sexualitäten. Wichtig ist mir, nicht mit Schablonen einer ‚guten‘ oder ‚richtigen‘ Beziehung zu arbeiten – weder entlang gesamtgesellschaftlicher Normalitätsvorstellungen noch entlang von Community-Normen –, sondern Umgangsweisen zu entwickeln, die zu den beteiligten Menschen passen. Mein Ziel ist die Unterstützung hin zu Beziehungen, die allen Beteiligten guttun und auch mit Herausforderungen umgehen können. Dabei arbeite ich vielfaltsorientiert, diskriminierungsreflektiert und herrschaftskritisch/machtkritisch.

I offer relationship counseling in Berlin and online for all gender constellations and all consensual relationship models and sexualities. Rather than working with templates of ‘good’ or ‘right’ relationships—either based on societal or community norms—I aim to support you to co-create approaches that correspond to your individual wishes, needs, and boundaries. My goal is to assist in fostering relationships that are beneficial to all involved and can also handle challenges. In this process, I appreciate diversity and strive to take into account and mitigate effects of discrimination, inequality and power imbalances on relationships.

#Beziehungsberatung #RelationshipCounseling #paarberatung #Paartherapie #couples-counseling #couples-therapy #bedürfnisorientiert #GeschlechtlicheVielfalt #SexuelleVielfalt #RomantischeVielfalt #queerinklusiv #queersensibel #queer #Beziehungsvielfalt #genderdiversity #sexualdiversity #romanticdiversity #relationshipdiversity #vielfaltsorientiert #Polyamorie #polyamory #ethischeNichtmonogamie #EthicalNonMonogamy #kink-aware #kinksensibel #kinkinklusiv #kinkinclusive #infektionsschutzsensibel #CovidCautious #diskriminierungssensibel #transinklusiv #geschlechterreflektiert #herrschaftskritisch #machtkritisch

Ich jetzt meine Beziehungsberatungs-Website übersetzt und freue mich über Anfragen und Weiterverbreitung

I have translated my relationship counseling website, look forward to enquiries and would be happy for people to spread the word

• Deutsch: katharina-debus.de/beziehungsb…
• English: katharina-debus.de/relationshi…

Ich biete Beziehungsberatung in Berlin und online für alle Geschlechterkonstellationen und alle einvernehmlichen Lebensweisen, Beziehungsmodelle und Sexualitäten. Wichtig ist mir, nicht mit Schablonen einer ‚guten‘ oder ‚richtigen‘ Beziehung zu arbeiten – weder entlang gesamtgesellschaftlicher Normalitätsvorstellungen noch entlang von Community-Normen –, sondern Umgangsweisen zu entwickeln, die zu den beteiligten Menschen passen. Mein Ziel ist die Unterstützung hin zu Beziehungen, die allen Beteiligten guttun und auch mit Herausforderungen umgehen können. Dabei arbeite ich vielfaltsorientiert, diskriminierungsreflektiert und herrschaftskritisch/machtkritisch.

I offer relationship counseling in Berlin and online for all gender constellations and all consensual relationship models and sexualities. Rather than working with templates of ‘good’ or ‘right’ relationships—either based on societal or community norms—I aim to support you to co-create approaches that correspond to your individual wishes, needs, and boundaries. My goal is to assist in fostering relationships that are beneficial to all involved and can also handle challenges. In this process, I appreciate diversity and strive to take into account and mitigate effects of discrimination, inequality and power imbalances on relationships.

#Beziehungsberatung #RelationshipCounseling #paarberatung #Paartherapie #couples-counseling #couples-therapy #bedürfnisorientiert #GeschlechtlicheVielfalt #SexuelleVielfalt #RomantischeVielfalt #queerinklusiv #queersensibel #queer #Beziehungsvielfalt #genderdiversity #sexualdiversity #romanticdiversity #relationshipdiversity #vielfaltsorientiert #Polyamorie #polyamory #ethischeNichtmonogamie #EthicalNonMonogamy #kink-aware #kinksensibel #kinkinklusiv #kinkinclusive #infektionsschutzsensibel #CovidCautious #diskriminierungssensibel #transinklusiv #geschlechterreflektiert #herrschaftskritisch #machtkritisch

Ich jetzt meine Beziehungsberatungs-Website übersetzt und freue mich über Anfragen und Weiterverbreitung

I have translated my relationship counseling website, look forward to enquiries and would be happy for people to spread the word

• Deutsch: katharina-debus.de/beziehungsb…
• English: katharina-debus.de/relationshi…

Ich biete Beziehungsberatung in Berlin und online für alle Geschlechterkonstellationen und alle einvernehmlichen Lebensweisen, Beziehungsmodelle und Sexualitäten. Wichtig ist mir, nicht mit Schablonen einer ‚guten‘ oder ‚richtigen‘ Beziehung zu arbeiten – weder entlang gesamtgesellschaftlicher Normalitätsvorstellungen noch entlang von Community-Normen –, sondern Umgangsweisen zu entwickeln, die zu den beteiligten Menschen passen. Mein Ziel ist die Unterstützung hin zu Beziehungen, die allen Beteiligten guttun und auch mit Herausforderungen umgehen können. Dabei arbeite ich vielfaltsorientiert, diskriminierungsreflektiert und herrschaftskritisch/machtkritisch.

I offer relationship counseling in Berlin and online for all gender constellations and all consensual relationship models and sexualities. Rather than working with templates of ‘good’ or ‘right’ relationships—either based on societal or community norms—I aim to support you to co-create approaches that correspond to your individual wishes, needs, and boundaries. My goal is to assist in fostering relationships that are beneficial to all involved and can also handle challenges. In this process, I appreciate diversity and strive to take into account and mitigate effects of discrimination, inequality and power imbalances on relationships.

#Beziehungsberatung #RelationshipCounseling #paarberatung #Paartherapie #couples-counseling #couples-therapy #bedürfnisorientiert #GeschlechtlicheVielfalt #SexuelleVielfalt #RomantischeVielfalt #queerinklusiv #queersensibel #queer #Beziehungsvielfalt #genderdiversity #sexualdiversity #romanticdiversity #relationshipdiversity #vielfaltsorientiert #Polyamorie #polyamory #ethischeNichtmonogamie #EthicalNonMonogamy #kink-aware #kinksensibel #kinkinklusiv #kinkinclusive #infektionsschutzsensibel #CovidCautious #diskriminierungssensibel #transinklusiv #geschlechterreflektiert #herrschaftskritisch #machtkritisch

Ich jetzt meine Beziehungsberatungs-Website übersetzt und freue mich über Anfragen und Weiterverbreitung

I have translated my relationship counseling website, look forward to enquiries and would be happy for people to spread the word

• Deutsch: katharina-debus.de/beziehungsb…
• English: katharina-debus.de/relationshi…

Ich biete Beziehungsberatung in Berlin und online für alle Geschlechterkonstellationen und alle einvernehmlichen Lebensweisen, Beziehungsmodelle und Sexualitäten. Wichtig ist mir, nicht mit Schablonen einer ‚guten‘ oder ‚richtigen‘ Beziehung zu arbeiten – weder entlang gesamtgesellschaftlicher Normalitätsvorstellungen noch entlang von Community-Normen –, sondern Umgangsweisen zu entwickeln, die zu den beteiligten Menschen passen. Mein Ziel ist die Unterstützung hin zu Beziehungen, die allen Beteiligten guttun und auch mit Herausforderungen umgehen können. Dabei arbeite ich vielfaltsorientiert, diskriminierungsreflektiert und herrschaftskritisch/machtkritisch.

I offer relationship counseling in Berlin and online for all gender constellations and all consensual relationship models and sexualities. Rather than working with templates of ‘good’ or ‘right’ relationships—either based on societal or community norms—I aim to support you to co-create approaches that correspond to your individual wishes, needs, and boundaries. My goal is to assist in fostering relationships that are beneficial to all involved and can also handle challenges. In this process, I appreciate diversity and strive to take into account and mitigate effects of discrimination, inequality and power imbalances on relationships.

#Beziehungsberatung #RelationshipCounseling #paarberatung #Paartherapie #couples-counseling #couples-therapy #bedürfnisorientiert #GeschlechtlicheVielfalt #SexuelleVielfalt #RomantischeVielfalt #queerinklusiv #queersensibel #queer #Beziehungsvielfalt #genderdiversity #sexualdiversity #romanticdiversity #relationshipdiversity #vielfaltsorientiert #Polyamorie #polyamory #ethischeNichtmonogamie #EthicalNonMonogamy #kink-aware #kinksensibel #kinkinklusiv #kinkinclusive #infektionsschutzsensibel #CovidCautious #diskriminierungssensibel #transinklusiv #geschlechterreflektiert #herrschaftskritisch #machtkritisch

#DojaCat #Vie #Album #KemosabeRecords #Dr. #Luke #RCARecords #Hip-hop #PopRap #R&B #DancePop #Disco #PlanetHer #MiravalStudios #CD #FunkPop #Pop #Present #Christmas #Roses #YouTube #YouTuber #Subscribe #Cards #JealousType #AaahhMen #CouplesTherapy #Gorgeous #Happy #Stranger #AllMine #Lipstain

#DojaCat #Vie #Album #KemosabeRecords #Dr. #Luke #RCARecords #Hip-hop #PopRap #R&B #DancePop #Disco #PlanetHer #MiravalStudios #CD #FunkPop #Pop #Present #Christmas #Roses #YouTube #YouTuber #Subscribe #Cards #JealousType #AaahhMen #CouplesTherapy #Gorgeous #Happy #Stranger #AllMine #Lipstain

#DojaCat #Vie #Album #KemosabeRecords #Dr. #Luke #RCARecords #Hip-hop #PopRap #R&B #DancePop #Disco #PlanetHer #MiravalStudios #CD #FunkPop #Pop #Present #Christmas #Roses #YouTube #YouTuber #Subscribe #Cards #JealousType #AaahhMen #CouplesTherapy #Gorgeous #Happy #Stranger #AllMine #Lipstain

#DojaCat #Vie #Album #KemosabeRecords #Dr. #Luke #RCARecords #Hip-hop #PopRap #R&B #DancePop #Disco #PlanetHer #MiravalStudios #CD #FunkPop #Pop #Present #Christmas #Roses #YouTube #YouTuber #Subscribe #Cards #JealousType #AaahhMen #CouplesTherapy #Gorgeous #Happy #Stranger #AllMine #Lipstain