Imago relationship therapy, developed by Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt, focuses on collaboratively healing childhood wounds couples share. Imago takes a relationship approach, rather than an individual approach, to problem solving in a marriage. Imago is founded on the belief that there is often a connection between the frustrations experienced in adult relationships and early childhood experiences. By exploring and creating an understanding for each other’s feelings and “childhood wounds”, you can begin to heal yourself and your relationship, and move toward a more conscious partnership. Think this approach might work for you? Reach out to one of TherapyDen’s imago relationship therapy experts today.
Imago relationship therapy (IRT) aims to equip couples with the tools necessary to relate to each other in healthier ways and reveal the emotional pathway formed in childhood that led them to their current situation. This form of therapy combines spiritual and behavioral techniques with Western psychological methodologies in order to assist couples in unveiling their unconscious components.
— David Yellen, Licensed Clinical Social Worker - Candidate in brooklyn, NYThis is a specific kind of relationship therapy that is designed to help conflict within relationships. We learn about the individual's own past wounds and how it maybe affecting their parter/relationship. Through this process we learn about personal triggers that are impacting the relationship.
— Fatemah Dhirani, Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York, NYI engage in IMAGO relationship therapy often with couples to help them connect, attach, and communicate more effectively.
— Samantha Tenner, Therapist in Boulder, COWhile I do use other modalities for relationship therapy, such as Gottman and EFT, I find the techniques and exercises used in Imago therapy, which is best suited for helping clients take more control of their own healing process.
— Brent Armour, Licensed Professional Counselor Associate in HOUSTON, TXWhen your partner REALLY listens to you, a disagreement need not become a fight. We'll use Harville & Helen Hendrix's communication techniques to listen to understand, rather than just waiting to fire back a rebuttal. So often, we aren't even fighting about the same thing. Having help to slow down and stay on the same track has made all the difference for couples' relationships. I have heard "I just wish we'd done this sooner," as I work with couples to re-build connection.
— Kathryn Gates, Marriage & Family Therapist in Austin, TXI work with couples using the couples dialogue, helping them to feel heard and understood, with the goal of engaging in healthy conflict and having a strengthened relationship.
— Candice N. Crowley, LPC, Licensed Professional Counselor in Cincinnati, OHI use Imago therapy to help couples and families to lean into each other for their needs like comfort and reassurance. We begin by finding the ways that our partner has been there for us during the week. Then during session, a couple finds a way to both experiment and to experience having their partner open up and have their needs met in the moment.
— Elizabeth McGinnis, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Menlo Park, CAThere is a link between frustrations in adult relationships and our experiences growing up. Childhood feelings of abandonment, suppression or neglect will often arise in an intimate relationship. When partners meet wounds with defensiveness and reactivity it can overshadow the positives in a relationship and lead to feelings of disconnection, pain and dis-empowerment. Imago Relationship Therapy aims to help couples learn to shift out of the power struggle and into loving connection.
— Cindy Ricardo, Counselor in Boynton Beach, FLI now offer a nine-week online psychoeducational program that serves both as a self-study program for those couples who wish to work on their relationship at home, working at their own pace, as well as an introduction to couples counseling, teaching the skills and tools needed to make couples counseling really beneficial and successful. I particularly enjoy working with couples from different cultural backgrounds. Inter-cultural relationships offer unique challenges to couples.
— Brooke Randolph, Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Indianapolis, INImago Relationship Therapy provides couples and families with a safe structure to co-create a healthy, loving and mature relationship where all parties feel heard and understood. Imago is unique in several ways; it provides a dialogical process that you will continually use to connect and heal.
— Thavone Huinil, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Grand Rapids, MIImago Couples Therapy is based on the idea that we each carry an image of what love should feel like, shaped by early experiences. This image influences our romantic relationships, often complicating them with past and present issues. Imago therapy aims to build empathy, understanding, appreciation, and connection between partners. Imago therapy can help you: Reinvigorate your relationships. Transform conflict into connection. Embrace new possibilities for deeper relationships.
— Alexis Gibson, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Los Osos, CAI was introduced to Imago when I began counseling work in 2019. Since then, I have used it consistently in my practice. Understanding the process of mirroring, validation, and empathy not only gives me direction as a therapist in session, it also provides a useful guide for a couple to get to know themselves in relation. This method is great for cultivating listening skills by asking one to consider how to reflect back the content, as well as imagining the experience, from what another says.
— Dani Knoll, Associate Marriage & Family Therapist in , CAImago therapy was developed with the goal to help partners reconnect, heal, and grow in their relationships. Imago hones in on partners' childhood wounds and helps them repair and grow past them within the relationship. It offers partners very practical and concrete interventions, such as formal appreciations, mirroring, validating, and empathizing. Clients can immediately apply interventions their daily lives to improve their relationships through the fostering of safety and security.
— Sobia Saleem Psychotherapist, Associate Marriage & Family Therapist in Costa Mesa, CA