Manchester Psychotherapy

Counselling in Manchester

Imago Relationship Therapy – Mirroring

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Imago Relationship Therapy Manchester MirroringMirroring is a fundamental skill in the Imago dialogue process. In this article, I will explore the why’s and wherefores of mirroring and I hope to give you some insight to its importance in the process. If you have marriage counselling with me then you will have heard much of this before in the session, if not I hope the post helps!

Why mirror?

When you are the receiver in the couple’s dialogue process your role is to mirror back what you have just heard your partner say. The mirror is important because it makes sure that what you heard and what was said are the same. “How could they not be?” I hear you say. Let’s take the following example;

Sender: “I make up in my head that you are interested in another man”

Receiver “So I heard you say that you are accusing me of having an affair”

The receiver put his own spin on what was said by the sender and made the sentence into something that it was not. We do this frequently in conversations with our loved ones, especially if they are becoming heated. The mirror prevents this and encourages us to stay on our partner’s island.

Did I get you?

A better mirror for this sender would be;

Receiver “I hear you say that you make up in your head that I am interested in other men. Did I get you?”

In this example we are staying on our partner’s island and seeing what the world looks like for them. They are different to us. They are separate and they think differently. The last part of the sentence is essential to the process. “Did I get you?” Notice the words. “Did I get you?” means exactly that. It’s more about understanding where your partner is coming from than repeating the words back exactly. It’s asking “am I in tune with you?”

Next steps

Next we go to the sender. The sender will either confirm “yes, you got me” or resend the parts of the send that were missed “you got most of it; I’d like to resend this bit more clearly….”

It’s important that the sender checks that what was sent was mirrored accurately and corrects it if it was not (in the nicest possible way of course, after all, if you are having someone come visit you on your Island you don’t want to sucker punch them in the guts, they’re unlikely to want to come back if you do!)

Once the send is confirmed as correct then the receiver will ask “is there more?”

Is there more?

Ah those beautiful words! “Is there more?” When you say these words to your partner as the receiver you are asking to be taken further into their world. You are giving them an opportunity to explore their thoughts and feelings about the issue to a deeper level. As the dialogue deepens then the connection between you and your partner does too. You get to find out what it’s like being them and empathise with the thoughts and feelings they are having. This puts the frustration they may be having with you in context.

The next two stages of the process of Imago dialogue are validation and empathy. I will talk about them in the next article in this series. Until then, if you have any questions about the Imago process or any thoughts or observations please get in touch using the comment box below and let’s dialogue about it!

Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“I Love You But I’m Not In Love With You” Explained

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I love you but im not in love with you“I love you but I’m not in love with you” is a common phrase that I hear from couples contemplating coming into couples counselling with me. It’s a phrase that I hear so often I feel compelled to write a post about it. The aim of this post is to shed some light on what this phrase probably means and to help you to understand how this is normal. I will also give some suggestions on what you can do about these feelings within your relationship.

Let’s break down the phrase a little. “I love you” indicates that you have strong feelings and feel close and at home in your partners company. It sounds as if there is real potential within the relationship if only you knew how to free the energy from the stuck place it seems trapped in. The second part of the phrase “but I’m not in love with you” initially suggests that there is something wrong with the relationship and the love that you have for your partner is not enough. I disagree. I would like to translate this phrase for you as I see it.

The phrase to me indicates that the initial phase of the relationship has come to an end. In Imago Relationship therapy terms we call this the romantic phase. This is where you meet your partner and think that they are the most wonderful person on the entire planet! It’s characterised by the following key features:

Familiarity and timelessness:

You meet your partner and it’s as if you have known them forever! “Haven’t we met before?” you may ask. The answer in many ways to this question is yes, and no! You may not have met this individual before but you will most probably be very familiar with lots of their traits and characteristics because this person will fit with your imago. Your imago is the image of the person you need to be with to resolve your unmet childhood needs. It will be constructed from the good parts, and the bad parts of your parents, caregivers and significant people as you grew up. Yup, you fancy your Mum and Dad and with good reason (shudder at the thought)!!

Completion:

With your new partner you feel complete. They are your true “other half”. Again, this is kind of true according to Imago Relationship Therapy Theory. If you are quiet, you are likely to be attracted to someone who is a bit of a shouter, if you are a “feelings” person, you may well connect yourself up to a “thinker”. The theory states that we choose a partner that will offer us the most opportunity for growth.

Necessity:

This is the feeling that if your partner were to leave or be beamed up by aliens that happened to be passing by, you would simply collapse into a pile of useless Jelly on the floor. It’s as if you suddenly cannot comprehend your partner not being there.

Love drugs

Added to these four key parts of the romantic stage of the relationship is a heady cocktail of drugs. You are literally high as a kite, stoned on love. Your brain is pumping out endorphins, dopamine and other chemicals that are triggered even if you just think about your new love. No wonder we love love, we are off our face on love drugs!

I’m sorry to say, you know what’s coming next….the crash. When you have been in the romantic phase for long enough to form a strong bond with your partner you will enter the next phase, the power struggle. The drugs cannot be pumped out forever (shame as it may be) and you start to notice that other side of your Imago that you are not so keen on – all of those issues that you have with your caregivers that you need to resolve.

Common responses to the power struggle

It makes sense for you to try to recapture that love that you had in the romantic phase of the relationship and so that throws up a few choices for you. You can:

Bully your partner into being the perfect individual you saw them as when you chose them – bring on the arguments;

Dump your partner and go get another one – getting to go through the romantic phase all over again (I bet you know some serial monogamists who have a series of partners but never seem to make any relationship last?)

Have an affair – research has shown that the chemical buzz from the endorphins and other love drugs is enhanced by perceived risk;

For any of the above options you may find yourself saying “I love you, I’m just not in love with you”.

A different way

All of these choices are pretty rubbish and are unlikely to get your needs met,  they are also likely to bring with them a great deal of pain and upset for you and your partner. But there is another way. Commit. Commit to your relationship and work towards deep love with your partner.  Have a conscious relationship. By doing this the childhood wounds you set out to heal with your partner can be healed. You can grow and you can enable the growth of your partner too. But how do you do this?

The “how”

I guess the easiest way is to work with an Imago Relationship Therapist to guide you in the process but I think you can do it without this help, although it may be a little harder.

It’s about talking to each other in a straight way, asking for what you want and sharing your feelings with your partner. Staying away from the four horsemen of divorce and keeping your mouth shut at times when you really want to give your other half a good dressing down. It’s about seeing your partner as another wounded individual who is also just doing their best to heal and get their needs met.

I would also recommend that you read about Imago theory.  I have a fair few posts on Imago so you can read me for free or you can buy the ultimate guide, Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples by Harville Hendrix, the brains behind Imago Relationship Therapy.

“I love you, I’m just not in love with you” is a sign post. It says the easy stuff is over and now the more difficult and more rewarding journey has begun. The journey to deeper love.

Read the book!  I Love You But I’m Not in Love with You: Seven Steps to Saving Your Relationship Click on the (affiliate) link to be taken to Amazon.

The 5 Stages Of Grief

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5 Stages of grief and grieving manchester psychotherapyGrief is a common issue facing clients but it’s not reserved just for those that have had someone close to them die. Why is grief such a common issue? This article aims to answer this question and explain the stages of grief. My next article will give some suggestions for dealing with grief.

We can lose someone close to us in all sorts of different ways. People don’t need to die on us for us to feel their absence. Often during the therapeutic process it’s important to grieve the loss of an ideal that we have held close and thought essential. It hurts when we finally realise that the relationship we had with our parents was not perfect, or that they did not look after us the way they should have done, the way any small child deserves to be looked after. It hurts when we realise that our partner letting us down has destroyed our idea of what an intimate relationship should be like. Giving ourselves permission to grieve these losses is an important step in realising our full potential in the here and now.

The stages of grief are well documented in relation to death. Kubler-Ross proposed that there are five stages of grief that people go through. In this post I will briefly discuss these stages. It’s important to appreciate that the stages outlined below are not fixed in stone and it may be that you experience them in a different order or not even experience certain stages at all. There is no normal with so much of the human psyche, we do what we do and that’s ok.

Stage 1 – Denial, shock and disbelief

When you first realise your loss you may completely deny that you have lost anything at all. You may be so amazed with the realisation that it’s hard for you to get your head round it. When you discuss your childhood with a therapist it’s not uncommon to discover that events that have taken place in your past were more important than you initially perceived them to be. This may be the way you were treated as a child, the absence of a significant caregiver as you grew up, the significance of abuse that you suffered as a child. Blocking these things out is a very clever strategy when you are little. You can’t do anything about them because as a kid you are powerless. But it may be useful to allow yourself to feel the feelings associated with these events or relationships when you are an adult. As an adult you are able to look after yourself and have all the faculties to guarantee your own survival.

Stage 2 – Anger

Once you have accepted that the event in question did happen, or the relationship really was a poor one you may experience anger. This may vary from mild consistent annoyance to outright rage. It’s OK to feel angry. Chances are you feel that you should not have been put in that situation or the other party should have treated you better or looked after you in a much more loving way. It can be really useful to express this anger to a sympathetic friend or your therapist. I also advise you to avoid confronting the individual concerned about the issue at this stage of the grieving process. Sometimes it’s best to strike whilst the Iron is cold and you have had time to work it through and process your feelings. If it’s a loved one you have lost you may feel angry that they have left you (or died) or you may feel angry at yourself for not preventing it.

Stage 3 – Bargaining

Bargaining is when we attempt to rationalise the situation and work out how it can be avoided. You may start to think that you have somehow misinterpreted the situation or you are overplaying it. When faced with death, Kubler-Ross mentions individuals thinking how they can delay or cheat the final event.

Stage 4 – Sadness

At this point sadness may hit. As I said before, these stages won’t be clear cut and it’s very likely that you will have already experienced a great deal of sadness. It’s important to allow yourself to feel sad. What’s happening here is that you are processing the loss. Go with it, don’t try to push it away or distract yourself. It’s healthy and you will not feel sad forever.

Stage 5 – Acceptance

This is the point at which you will accept the loss you have experienced. You can now move on and form new relationships, get a new job or think of your deceased loved one without falling to pieces.

There is no set time period for these stages. You should not try to speed the process up or slow it down. Just accept it and you will come out the other side. From there you can move on.

If you think you would benefit from help and support from a counsellor, please call me on 07966 390857 or use my contact form to get in touch.

If you want to read my post on 5 ways of coping with grief, click here.