Ros Yuen Psychology

Gottman Method Therapist Adelaide

Enhance communication, respect, intimacy, and understanding in your relationship with evidence-based Gottman Method couples therapy with Ros Yuen.

Clinically Trained Gottman Method Therapist

Couples therapy sessions have the potential to strengthen, revitalise, or repair a partnership. One approach to therapy is to incorporate the Gottman Method, which involves interventions that stem from the Sound Relationship House Theory. This style of therapy may support you towards your goals as a couple, enhance your connection, and reduce negative conflict patterns.

By incorporating evidence-based techniques and interventions, the Gottman Method involves working together with a qualified psychologist to strengthen your partnership.

What is the Gottman Method?

Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman developed the Gottman Method. According to their mission, this approach aims to “disarm conflicting verbal communication; increase intimacy, respect, and affection; remove barriers that create a feeling of stagnancy and create a heightened sense of empathy and understanding within the context of the relationship.”

This form of couples therapy incorporates research that spanned more than four decades. This involved steps such as empirical and longitudinal studies with thousands of couples at varying stages of relationship difficulties and breakdowns.

The Gottman Method establishes four behaviours that frequently lead to relationship difficulties and breakups. These are criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and withdrawal from interactions. By analysing a relationship with these elements in mind, a trained psychologist can recommend changes and development options.

This form of relationship therapy involves what is known as the Sound Relationship House Theory, which is a metaphor for a strong relationship. The metaphorical house has seven different floors and two weight-bearing walls. We can discuss these elements in detail in your session. When covering each floor, there is the opportunity for you to establish new skills and strategies.

Benefits of The Gottman Method

The Gottman Method has the potential to improve or resolve a variety of problems and challenges that impact relationship health.

Many couples have seen benefits from Gottman Method counselling, such as:

Improved trust and respect after infidelity.
Better ability to work through conflict.
Enhanced friendship within the relationship dynamics.
Shared goals.
More empathetic and amicable interactions.
Healthier emotional connection.

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Learn to navigate your conflict and emotions in your relationship.

My Gottman Method Counselling Process

We begin with a comprehensive assessment, which will help me to develop a personalised plan that utilises this method. I will then guide you to learn and implement tools and strategies that employ a research-based self-assessment process, a digital relationship health plan, and a thorough analysis of your progress.

Assessment of a relationship is important to establish strengths, issues, and progress. The Gottman Method explores three profiles in every relationship during an assessment. These are the friendship profile, the conflict profile and the shared meanings profile.

Based on the outcome of this assessment, which involves a questionnaire followed by one to two interviews, I will develop interventions that suit the specific needs of the couple. These may involve options such as identifying persistent and solvable problems, establishing an approach to conflict that is compassionate and understanding, and learning repair and recovery dialogue techniques.

Who is The Gottman Method Suitable For?

The Gottman Method has the potential to be particularly pertinent when addressing couples relationship issues that are ingrained and persistent. People of any sexual orientation, economic status, race, or cultural sectors can benefit from the Gottman Method therapy.

Couples who have benefitted from this form of therapy include those who were dealing with a variety of issues, such as:

There are some people who the Gottman Method is not recommended for. When there is a significant domestic abuse in the couple relationship, all forms of couple therapy aimed at enhancing emotional connection between the partners will increase the victim’s vulnerability and therefore unsafe to undertake. Triaging for safety is part of the intake process at Ros Yuen Psychology.

Gottman Method FAQs

What should I Expect During My Gottman Method Therapy Session?

The first 2 to 3 sessions in the Gottman Method Couple Therapy focus on assessing relationship history, relationship satisfaction, individual backgrounds, current issues, friendship and intimacy, conflict management, shared goals and values, marriage, children, finance and patterns of conflict management.

You will be invited to complete online Gottman Questionnaire between the second and third sessions and be given an overview of the Gottman approach. In essence, the main areas of treatment are conflict, friendship, intimacy, values, trust and commitment. From my experience, beginning with conflict management has far reaching benefits.

As the sessions progress, each session has the following structure:

Check-in: this is a review of your current state and any new issues that have arisen.
Review: we check your progress and any homework assignments from previous sessions.
Intervention: you will be guided through specific interventions tailored to your situation.
Skill Building: You will be guided through communication and conflict skills.
Homework: You will be given homework assignments to practice the skills leaned in therapy and to embed them in your day-to-day life.
Closure: Summary and a plan for the next session.

Do We Have To Commit to a Series of Appointments to Take Advantage of the Gottman Method in Therapy Sessions?

You do need to commit to a series of appointments to benefit from the Gottman Method because you will be taught skills that build on each other. The Gottman Method works on the philosophy that relationships need strength in three key areas: friendship, conflict management and shared meaning. You will need a block of appointments to address each key area.

How Long Does the Gottman Method Take to Work Through?

Some of the Gottman Method skills can work right away. For instance, from his research with nearly 400 couples, John Gottman has developed a list of possible phrases to encourage communication and de-escalate conflict which you can apply as soon as you leave my office. However, a change in attitude will take several months to implement depending on your readiness to change.

How Effective is the Gottman Method for Improving Relationships?

Example answer:

https://www.sdrelationshipplace.com/gottman-method-guide/#How_Effective_is_the_Gottman_Method_in_Relationship_Counseling

There are 10 components in the Gottman Method based on the Sound Relation House model of a healthy relationship:

Communicating and evaluating- detest distress and graceful exits; stop take a breath observe proceed skillfuly
Modifying map of love
Strengthening the sense of attachment and praise
Turning to each other instead of turning away
Accept partners’ influence
Solving solvable problems
Identifying your couple conflict dances and assisting each other to manage them
Deal with impasses
Deepening all aspects of couple intimacy: physical, sexual, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.

The Gottman Method has been shown to be effective in improving marital adjustment and couple’s intimacy; increased positive interactions and comments; increased self-disclosure and the ability of mutual understanding to express interest and improve interactions. Positive affection is the best predictor of communication affection and stability in newly wed couples and so by fostering positive regard, couples are strengthening their relationship.

Ros Yuen Psychology

Develop Healthy Relationships with the Gottman Method

The Gottman Method Couples Therapy, developed by John and Julie Gottman, aims to help you replace negative conflict patterns, increase positive interactions, develop a healthy relationship, and bring back the fondness and admiration to your partnership.

As a clinically trained Gottman Method therapist, I am here to assist you in establishing a positive perspective and work to deepen the emotional connection between you and your partner. If you are interested in learning more about Gottman Method couples therapy sessions, please contact me to discuss and to organise your initial consultation.