Mark Sorensen, Ph.D. individual, couples and group psychotherapy

Welcome

Life can present difficult challenges and everyone has moments when they feel like they are struggling. It is when we feel like our old solutions to problems aren’t working anymore that therapy can be most helpful.

Discovering new ways of living your life is a courageous and worthwhile endeavor. Depression, marital problems, social phobia, unhealthy habits and feelings of insecurity, are the concerns I have been helping my clients change for nearly thirty years.

Blending both traditional and contemporary approaches, I will be collaborative in developing a strategy for change that will be most helpful for you. I work with adults individually, in couples therapy or in group therapy. My focus with each client is to help them build on their strengths and to overcome the limiting beliefs and habits which interfere with experiencing greater satisfaction in life. To find out more about whether I might be a good match for you, contact me for a free telephone consultation.

Reflections

Intimacy in Couples

It is not a problem for feelings of intimacy to change in committed, long-term relationships. It is a problem when a couple doesn’t know how to recover when distance has grown between them. What often happens is that the reactions that have gotten triggered by the behavior of your partner dominate your attention.

These reactions are usually upsetting emotions and they pull for responses that are protective including withdrawal, criticism, passivity and competition. To get out of the mess, you need to recognize when you are in a reactive state of mind and redirect your attention to what your intention is in the relationship.  When you focus on how you want to be rather than how you want to feel you have a new compass for your actions.

While feeling close and connected to your romantic partner is an experience that ebbs and flows, there are five domains of action that you can pay attention to that will help you to nurture intimacy in your relationship.  These are conversational, physical, emotional, recreational, and sexual. In couples therapy, we work together to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of you experiencing greater satisfaction in these five areas of your relationship.