Relationship Issues

If you find yourself experiencing conflict with loved ones that feels like it happens too often, feels like it gets too intense, or feels like it never gets fully resolved, you might benefit from discussing your concerns with Dr. Kleinman. As a psychodynamic psychotherapist and board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Kleinman can help you figure out what the key underlying issues may be and help you work towards healthy conflict resolution.

What are common relationship issues?

Relationship issues include feelings of mutual mistrust, resentment, or contempt. These feelings can develop slowly under pressure from major life problems or can erupt suddenly from the seemingly smallest irritation. Such feelings can emerge in any number of situations that cause strain and conflict in the relationship. When left unaddressed over time, the feelings can have a significant negative impact on your mental health.

What are risk factors for developing relationship issues?

Relationships can have conflict for any number of reasons. Factors that can increase your risk include:

• Frequent miscommunication
• Open frustration, sarcasm, and defensiveness
• Explosive, angry exchanges
• Avoidance or silence regarding any difficult topics
• Frequent breakups and make-ups
• Physical or emotional infidelity
• Financial strain due to low income or high costs
• Loss of work, intentional or unintentional
• Inability to find employment
• Mental health problems in one or both partners
• Past trauma that affects the relationship
• Disagreement in the extended family system
• Stress from difficult family members
• Loss of a loved one
• Divorce

Learning how to better understand your relationship conflicts and how to interact intuitively and effectively with your partner can dramatically improve your relationship and your overall well-being.

Is therapy for relationship issues right for me?

Dr. Kleinman can help you determine which forms of treatment are best suited to your unique situation after thoroughly assessing how you experience conflict in your relationship. She conducts a full psychiatric evaluation, which includes asking about any past mental health symptoms and any prior mental health treatment. She also asks about your life history, family history, and lifestyle habits before customizing a personalized treatment plan that’s best suited to your needs.

How does Dr. Kleinman help with relationship issues?

Dr. Kleinman offers psychodynamic psychotherapy, which is a talk therapy that meets once or twice per week. This therapy can help you address relationship issues by examining the underlying forces that may be causing them in the first place. It helps you learn more about what motivates you and the other person and understand why the conflicts keep happening. With this knowledge, you can change how you relate to the other person and change how you respond to potential conflict, which can translate to more meaningful change in the long run.

Dr. Kleinman’s treatment approach can be notably helpful if you also have difficulty in other kinds of relationships, such as friends, colleagues, bosses, siblings, parents, or even strangers. Her approach may help if you tried counseling or therapy in the past and did not find the treatment helpful or weren’t able to sustain the improvement.

Dr. Kleinman will tailor your treatment to your personal needs and follow your progress closely to ensure meaningful progress.