Marriage can sometimes fall into routines. Life gets busy, responsibilities pile up, and before you know it, the spark that once came so easily may feel dimmed. If you’re wondering how to get back the wife you married, one simple but powerful answer lies in being pleasantly unpredictable.

Surprises, playfulness, and a little flirtation can go a long way. These small but meaningful actions remind your wife that love isn’t just steady—it’s exciting too.

Why Predictability Can Hurt a Marriage

Comfort is great—but too much predictability can lead to boredom. When every day feels the same, emotional excitement fades. Your wife may still love you deeply, but the thrill of connection can weaken.

That’s where unpredictability comes in—not in a negative or chaotic way, but in a thoughtful, loving manner. It creates moments of joy and keeps the relationship alive.

The Power of Pleasant Surprises

Surprises don’t have to be big or expensive. In fact, the best ones are often simple and heartfelt.

Here are a few ideas:

• Leaving a handwritten note in her bag
• Bringing home her favorite snack unexpectedly
• Planning a spontaneous date night
• Sending a sweet text during the day

These gestures say, “I’m thinking about you.” And that’s incredibly powerful.

Being Playful Rekindles Emotional Connection

Playfulness isn’t just for the early days of dating—it’s essential throughout marriage.

Try:

• Teasing her gently in a loving way
• Sharing inside jokes
• Dancing together in the kitchen
• Acting silly just to make her laugh

Laughter builds emotional intimacy. When your wife associates you with joy and fun, she naturally feels drawn closer to you.

Flirtation Keeps the Romance Alive

Flirting shouldn’t stop after marriage—it should evolve.

Simple ways to flirt:

• Compliment her genuinely
• Give her a lingering hug or playful wink
• Send a flirty message out of the blue
• Remind her of special memories you share

When you flirt, you’re telling your wife she’s still desired. That feeling is key when learning how to get back the wife you married.

Why Unpredictability Prevents Taking Each Other for Granted

Routine can sometimes make partners feel overlooked. When everything becomes expected, appreciation can fade.

But when you introduce small surprises:

• She feels valued again
• She pays more attention to you
• The relationship feels dynamic instead of static

Unpredictability keeps both partners emotionally engaged.

Consistency + Surprise = The Perfect Balance

Being unpredictable doesn’t mean being unreliable. Stability is still important.

The goal is balance:

• Be dependable in responsibilities
• Be spontaneous in affection

This combination creates a safe yet exciting relationship—exactly what most marriages need.

Real-Life Examples of Small but Meaningful Gestures

You don’t need grand gestures to make a big impact.

Consider these:

• Cooking dinner without being asked
• Planning a surprise weekend activity
• Recreating your first date at home
• Leaving voice notes just to say you love her

These actions show effort—and effort is deeply attractive.

Emotional Impact of Thoughtful Surprises

When you surprise your wife in positive ways, you:

• Strengthen emotional bonds
• Build lasting memories
• Increase mutual appreciation
• Rekindle attraction

Over time, these small acts create a stronger, more fulfilling marriage.

FAQs

1. Why is unpredictability important in marriage?

It keeps the relationship exciting and prevents boredom, helping both partners stay emotionally connected.

2. Do surprises need to be expensive?

Not at all. Small, thoughtful gestures often mean more than costly gifts.

3. How often should I surprise my wife?

There’s no strict rule—just do it naturally and consistently enough to keep things fresh.

4. Can playfulness really improve a relationship?

Yes! Playfulness builds joy, reduces stress, and strengthens emotional intimacy.

5. What if my wife doesn’t respond immediately?

Be patient. Consistent effort over time makes the biggest difference.

6. Is this really how to get back the wife you married?

Yes—because it revives the feelings, excitement, and attention that existed in the early stages of your relationship.

Conclusion

Marriage doesn’t have to lose its spark. By being thoughtful, playful, and occasionally unpredictable, you can reignite the connection you once had.

If you’ve been searching for how to get back the wife you married, start small. Surprise her. Make her laugh. Flirt like you used to.

Love thrives not just on stability—but on moments of unexpected joy.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He specializes in provided solution oriented therapy for individuals, couples, teenagers, and adults.  He specializes in helping those with struggling with self-doubt or confidence issues, depression, anxiety, and relationship problems.

The post How to get back the wife you married: 7 Powerful Ways appeared first on Turnabout Counseling.

The relationship between narcissists and agreeable personality type is an important topic in psychology and relationships. People who score high in agreeableness, one of the Big Five personality traits, are usually kind, cooperative, and empathetic. They value peace, fairness, and emotional connection.

These qualities make agreeable people wonderful friends, partners, and coworkers. However, they can also make them more vulnerable to emotional manipulation, especially when interacting with narcissistic individuals.

Understanding the dynamic between narcissists and agreeable personality type can help people recognize warning signs and protect their emotional wellbeing.

What Is an Agreeable Personality Type?

Agreeableness is one of the Big Five personality traits used in modern psychology. People who score high in agreeableness often show traits such as:

• Empathy and compassion
• A strong desire to help others
• Trust in people’s intentions
• A preference for cooperation over conflict
• A willingness to forgive mistakes

Highly agreeable individuals often focus on maintaining harmony in relationships. They may go out of their way to keep others happy.

While this can build strong relationships, it can also make it difficult to set boundaries or confront harmful behavior.

Why Narcissists Target Agreeable Personality Types

The interaction between narcissists and agreeable personality type often follows predictable patterns.

Narcissistic personalities usually crave attention, validation, and control in relationships. They may actively seek people who are:

• Supportive
• Understanding
• Forgiving
• Less likely to challenge them

Highly agreeable individuals naturally fit this profile. Because they want relationships to work, they often give others the benefit of the doubt, even when warning signs appear.

Over time, a narcissist may begin to rely on the agreeable person for constant validation and emotional support.

Emotional Manipulation in Narcissistic Relationships

A key issue in the dynamic between narcissists and agreeable personality type is emotional manipulation.

Narcissistic individuals may use tactics such as:

• Blaming others for their behavior
• Playing the victim
• Using guilt to control the situation
• Alternating praise and criticism

Because agreeable people want to maintain peace, they may try to fix the relationship instead of confronting the problem. This can create an unhealthy power imbalance.

Gaslighting and Self-Doubt

Gaslighting is another common tactic used in relationships involving narcissists and agreeable personality type.

Often, gaslighting happens when someone intentionally distorts reality to make another person question their memory, feelings, or judgment. Examples include statements like:

• “That never happened.”
• “You’re imagining things.”
• “You’re too sensitive.”

Agreeable individuals are often self-reflective and empathetic, which means they may assume they are partly responsible for the conflict.

Instead of questioning the narcissist’s behavior, they may question their own perceptions.

Over time, this can lead to self-doubt and emotional exhaustion.

The Cycle Between Narcissists and Agreeable Personality Types

Relationships between narcissists and agreeable personality type often follow a repeating pattern:

1. The narcissist criticizes or manipulates
2. The agreeable person tries harder to maintain harmony
3. The narcissist escalates control or blame
4. The agreeable person experiences growing self-doubt

This cycle can make it difficult for the agreeable person to recognize how unhealthy the relationship has become.

How Agreeable People Can Protect Themselves

Being agreeable is not a flaw. In fact, it is associated with kindness, cooperation, and strong social relationships.

The key is learning to balance empathy with boundaries. Helpful strategies include:

• Practicing assertive communication
• Recognizing manipulation tactics early
• Setting clear emotional boundaries
• Seeking outside perspectives from trusted friends or professionals

Understanding the patterns between narcissists and agreeable personality type can help individuals stay compassionate without allowing others to take advantage of their kindness.

Final Thoughts

Agreeable people bring warmth and empathy into relationships. Unfortunately, these same qualities can attract individuals who seek control rather than mutual respect.

Learning about the dynamic between narcissists and agreeable personality type makes it easier to recognize manipulation and protect emotional wellbeing.

Kindness is a strength—but it works best when it is paired with healthy boundaries and self-respect.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He specializes in provided solution oriented therapy for individuals, couples, teenagers, and adults.  He specializes in helping those with struggling with self-doubt or confidence issues, depression, anxiety, and relationship problems.  

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Many men who begin therapy say they feel stuck. They want to make healthier choices, feel more confident, and get their lives moving in the right direction—but something keeps getting in the way. Surprisingly often, one of the biggest obstacles is simple: poor sleep. Improving sleep habits can dramatically affect other aspects of your mental capabilities and success.

Establishing a consistent bedtime routine is one of the most powerful steps men can take to improve their mental health, decision-making, and self-confidence. When you regularly get to bed at a reasonable hour, you give your mind and body the foundation they need to function at their best.

Why Sleep Matters for Mental Health

Sleep is essential for emotional regulation and mental clarity. When you get enough rest, your brain processes stress, regulates mood, and restores energy. When you don’t, everything becomes harder.

Men who are sleep-deprived often notice:

• Increased stress and irritability
• Poor concentration and productivity
• More impulsive decision-making
• Lower motivation
• Reduced emotional resilience

These effects can show up in relationships, work, and personal goals. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation can contribute to anxiety, depression, and burnout.

For many men, improving sleep habits becomes a powerful starting point for improving overall mental health.

Better Sleep Leads to Better Life Choices

One of the most immediate benefits of a healthy sleep routine is improved decision-making. When you are well-rested, the part of the brain responsible for planning and self-control works more effectively.

This makes it easier to make choices such as:

• Exercising regularly
• Eating healthier foods
• Managing stress more calmly
• Staying productive at work
• Maintaining healthier relationships

In contrast, when you’re exhausted, the brain tends to seek quick relief rather than long-term benefit. That might mean staying up late scrolling on your phone, skipping the gym, overeating, or avoiding difficult conversations.

Simply put, good sleep makes healthy choices easier.

Sleep Builds Discipline and Self-Trust

Confidence is often misunderstood. Many people think confidence is something you either have or don’t have. In reality, confidence grows from repeated experiences of keeping promises to yourself.

A bedtime routine creates a daily opportunity to practice discipline.

For example, you might set a goal to start winding down at 10:30 p.m. Each night you follow through—turning off screens, dimming lights, and preparing for sleep—you reinforce an important message to yourself: I take care of my well-being.

Over time, these small actions build self-trust, which is a key ingredient of genuine self-confidence.

A Simple Bedtime Routine for Better Mental Health

You don’t need a complicated system for improving sleep habits. A few consistent habits can make a big difference.

Consider starting with these steps:

1. Set a consistent bedtime. Aim to go to bed at the same time most nights.
2. Reduce screen time before bed. Turn off phones and laptops 30–60 minutes before sleeping.
3. Create a wind-down ritual. Reading, stretching, or journaling can help signal to your brain that it’s time to rest.
4. Keep your sleep schedule steady. Try to wake up at the same time each morning.

Small adjustments like these help regulate your internal clock and help in improving sleep habits and quality.

Why Sleep Matters for Men’s Therapy

Many men come to therapy seeking help with relationships, motivation, stress, or finding direction in life. While these challenges can be complex, healthy routines often create the stability needed to make real progress.

Sleep is one of the most important foundations.

When men begin prioritizing rest, they often notice clearer thinking, stronger emotional control, and improved confidence in their ability to make positive changes.

The Bottom Line

Building a better life rarely starts with dramatic changes. More often, it begins with simple, consistent habits.

Getting to bed at a reasonable hour may seem small, but it supports better mental health, stronger decision-making, and lasting self-confidence. Over time, that one habit can create momentum for healthier choices in every area of life.

If you’re working on improving your mental health, relationships, or sense of purpose, start with the basics. A consistent sleep routine might be one of the most powerful changes you can make.

Gary Watson is a therapist located in the Grand Rapids, MI area. He provides Solution Focused Therapy and specializes in working with young men who struggle with depression, worry, stress, relationships, self-confidence and more.

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I use it a lot in my counseling practice. For example, “what will be happening in a couple of weeks that isn’t happening yet, that will make a difference for you. It takes it from a static, “you’re not good enough” to something more like, “You have the power and motivation to make the changes you want to make in your life”

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids Michigan and Ada, Michigan.  He provides counseling for couples, counseling for teenagers, and adults.  He can help with anxiety, depression, stress, college and work stress, relationship problems, and more.  For more information, please visit the website at www.turnaboutcounseling.com.

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This Youtube video goes over the common traits a Narcissist, Borderline Personality Disorder, and other types of personality disordered people look for in a partner. Are you one of them? She also goes over what to do about it.

In my Grand Rapids, MI practice, I work with lots of men who are navigating the dating world and I can help you develop strategies to keep yourself from getting involved with someone with a personality disorder like narcissism. If think you’re already involved with a narcissist, I can help you find ways to set up healthy boundaries and deal with things like gaslighting etc.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids Michigan and Ada, Michigan.  He provides counseling for couples, counseling for teenagers, and adults.  He can help with anxiety, depression, stress, college and work stress, relationship problems, and more.  For more information, please visit the website at www.turnaboutcounseling.com.

The post Are You Dating a Narcissist? appeared first on Turnabout Counseling.

We all have habits that we wish we could eliminate—whether it’s mindlessly scrolling through social media, snacking late at night, or procrastinating on important tasks. At the core of these behaviors lies a powerful mechanism known as the habit loop, which is composed of three key components: cue, routine, and reward. To effectively break free from a bad habit, it’s essential to understand how this loop works and strategically interrupt it. In my counseling practice, I work with a lot of clients who are trying to eliminate bad habits which get in the way of developing productive habits.

Understanding the Habit Loop

The habit loop begins with a cue, a trigger that initiates the habit. This might be a feeling (boredom, stress), an external signal (a notification, the sight of a snack), or a specific time of day. The cue leads to the routine, the behavior or action you automatically perform in response. Finally, the loop ends with the reward, which reinforces the behavior by providing a sense of satisfaction, relief, or pleasure.

For example, imagine you’re stressed about a work deadline. The stress (cue) triggers a routine of reaching for comfort food, and the temporary relief or pleasure from eating is the reward. Over time, this loop becomes ingrained, making it difficult to stop the cycle.

Why Breaking Habit Loops is Challenging

Habits are deeply rooted in the brain’s basal ganglia, the part responsible for automatic behaviors. This automation saves cognitive effort but also makes habits resistant to change. To break a bad habit, you need to disrupt its loop—either by identifying and addressing the cue, altering the routine, or finding a different reward.

Strategies to Interrupt Habit Loops

1. Identify the Cue
   The first step to breaking a habit is recognizing what triggers it. Spend a few days observing your behavior and note when and where the habit occurs. Ask yourself questions like:
   • What time of day does this happen?
   • How am I feeling when I do this?
   • Are there specific people or environments involved?
   Once you’ve pinpointed the cue, you can work on neutralizing its influence. For instance, if stress triggers overeating, you might explore healthier stress-management techniques, such as deep breathing or journaling.
2. Replace the Routine
   Habits can’t simply be erased; they must be replaced. Instead of focusing on eliminating the behavior entirely, find a healthier or more productive substitute. For example:
   • Replace the habit of reaching for your phone with taking a short walk when you feel bored.Swap out unhealthy snacks for fruit or nuts when you’re craving a mid-afternoon treat.
   The key is to make the new routine satisfying enough to compete with the original one to eliminate bad habits.
3. Reframe the Reward
   Examine what reward your habit is providing and seek alternatives that deliver similar satisfaction. If the habit of checking your phone provides a dopamine hit from notifications, consider engaging in an activity like reading or solving puzzles that stimulates your brain in a similar way.
4. Introduce Friction
   Making bad habits more inconvenient can weaken their hold. For example:
   • Keep junk food out of the house to reduce temptation.
   • Log out of social media accounts to add an extra step before accessing them.
   • Set up physical barriers, such as storing your phone in another room during work hours.
5. Build a Support System
   Breaking a habit is easier with accountability and encouragement. Share your goals with friends or family, or join a group focused on similar objectives. Celebrate small victories to stay motivated.
6. Practice Mindfulness
   Many bad habits operate on autopilot. By practicing mindfulness, you can become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and triggers. Pause and assess your impulses before acting, which creates space to choose a different response.

Persistence Pays Off

Eliminating bad habits is not an overnight process. It requires patience, self-awareness, and consistent effort. Remember, the goal isn’t perfection but progress. With each interruption of the habit loop, you weaken its hold and pave the way for lasting change.

By understanding the mechanics of habit loops and applying these strategies, you can take control of your behaviors and build a life aligned with your goals and values. Breaking the cycle may be challenging, but it’s a transformative journey well worth the effort.

We all have habits that we wish we could eliminate—whether it’s mindlessly scrolling through social media, snacking late at night, or procrastinating on important tasks. At the core of these behaviors lies a powerful mechanism known as the habit loop, which is composed of three key components: cue, routine, and reward. To effectively break free from a bad habit, it’s essential to understand how this loop works and strategically interrupt it.

Understanding the Habit Loop

The habit loop begins with a cue, a trigger that initiates the habit. This might be a feeling (boredom, stress), an external signal (a notification, the sight of a snack), or a specific time of day. The cue leads to the routine, the behavior or action you automatically perform in response. Finally, the loop ends with the reward, which reinforces the behavior by providing a sense of satisfaction, relief, or pleasure.

For example, imagine you’re stressed about a work deadline. The stress (cue) triggers a routine of reaching for comfort food, and the temporary relief or pleasure from eating is the reward. Over time, this loop becomes ingrained, making it difficult to stop the cycle.

Why Breaking Habit Loops is Challenging

Habits are deeply rooted in the brain’s basal ganglia, the part responsible for automatic behaviors. This automation saves cognitive effort but also makes habits resistant to change. To break a bad habit, you need to disrupt its loop—either by identifying and addressing the cue, altering the routine, or finding a different reward.

Strategies to Interrupt Habit Loops

1. Identify the Cue
   The first step to breaking a habit is recognizing what triggers it. Spend a few days observing your behavior and note when and where the habit occurs. Ask yourself questions like:
   • What time of day does this happen?
   • How am I feeling when I do this?
   • Are there specific people or environments involved?
   Once you’ve pinpointed the cue, you can work on neutralizing its influence. For instance, if stress triggers overeating, you might explore healthier stress-management techniques, such as deep breathing or journaling.
2. Replace the Routine
   Habits can’t simply be erased; they must be replaced. Instead of focusing on eliminating the behavior entirely, find a healthier or more productive substitute. For example:
   • Replace the habit of reaching for your phone with taking a short walk when you feel bored.
   • Swap out unhealthy snacks for fruit or nuts when you’re craving a mid-afternoon treat.
   The key is to make the new routine satisfying enough to compete with the original one.
3. Reframe the Reward
   Examine what reward your habit is providing and seek alternatives that deliver similar satisfaction. If the habit of checking your phone provides a dopamine hit from notifications, consider engaging in an activity like reading or solving puzzles that stimulates your brain in a similar way.
4. Introduce Friction
   Making bad habits more inconvenient can weaken their hold. For example:
   • Keep junk food out of the house to reduce temptation.
   • Log out of social media accounts to add an extra step before accessing them.
   • Set up physical barriers, such as storing your phone in another room during work hours.
5. Build a Support System
   Breaking a habit is easier with accountability and encouragement. Share your goals with friends or family, or join a group focused on similar objectives. Celebrate small victories to stay motivated.
6. Practice Mindfulness
   Many bad habits operate on autopilot. By practicing mindfulness, you can become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and triggers. Pause and assess your impulses before acting, which creates space to choose a different response.

Persistence Pays Off

Eliminating bad habits is not an overnight process. It requires patience, self-awareness, and consistent effort. Remember, the goal isn’t perfection but progress. With each interruption of the habit loop, you weaken its hold and pave the way for lasting change.

By understanding the mechanics of habit loops and applying these strategies, you can take control of your behaviors and build a life aligned with your goals and values. Breaking the cycle may be challenging, but it’s a transformative journey well worth the effort.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids Michigan and Ada, Michigan.  He provides counseling for couples, counseling for teenagers, and adults.  He can help with anxiety, depression, stress, college and work stress, relationship problems, and more.  For more information, please visit the website at www.turnaboutcounseling.com.

The post How to Interrupt Habit Loops to Eliminate Bad Habits appeared first on Turnabout Counseling.

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I’ve provided counseling for grief issues many times in my career as a therapist.  Typical grief is related to someone we care about passing away.  But there are other types of grief that people have to deal with as well.  This could be considered more of a loss than a death.  This could be due to divorce, moving, a best friend moving, losing a job, and more.

Sometimes there are more complicated situations such as an impending death of a loved one with a terminal illness.  Here, though, I’ll stick to discussing counseling for typical grief.  There are a lot of resource available about dealing with grief, such as the four stages of grief:  Denial, Anger, Bargaining,  and Acceptance.  Actually a fifth element has been added called renewed purpose.  This is where once you’ve gone through the grief process, you might take on a new purpose.  

How Does Counseling Help?

People come in for counseling often wanting to get over their grief.  They want to stop feeling bad.  My experience is that it’s basically impossible to turn off these emotions and might not be healthy if we could.  it helps to accept the way we feel, but trust the feelings will start to dissipate with coming weeks. Eventually, you won’t have such gut wrenching pain.  

As a solution focused therapist, one thing I ask clients is how they will first notice their grief feelings going away.  They often state that the pain or loss wont be the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning. And, it won’t be the last thing they think about when they fall asleep.  They will notice they might go fifteen minutes before those thoughts come flooding in.  But at least this is a sign they are getting through it and starting to feel some kind of normalcy.

Grief From Divorce

In dealing with grief of a divorce, there can be many factors to consider—loss of relationship, loss of time with kids, feeling betrayed, etc.  This can obviously lead to lots of negative emotions.  From my experience, you have to feel the emotions until you don’t—no shortcuts.  If you accept your emotions and stay aware of how they may your attitude and decision making, you will eventually find the new normal and start to look forward to new possibilities.  Sometimes this means finding a new purpose, or starting new traditions, hobbies, etc.  

There have been polls taken of people who went through grief and came out the other side.  They were asked what they found to be the most helpful as they went through it.  Most people said that talking about their situation (maybe venting is a better word) helped the most. Just telling your story, sometimes over and over seems to be very healing. This might mean feeling like a broken record, or feeling like you’re annoying your friends, coworkers, family, and even your therapist.  But it’s still important. 

Why Talking About It Helps

When my therapy clients have a stressful time in between appointments, they start talking immediately about the events that happened.  Their speech is faster than normal and they seem to be just getting the story out in one long breath without breaks.  I usually take this as my cue to just listen and let them finish.  I can tell when they start to slow down or start taking some deep breathes that they are about done and then I can interject with my own questions of comments.  But I can observe a sense of relief just in telling the story.  

Of course, just telling the story or venting isn’t what counseling is about.  My job is to help you gain some sense of what you can do to cope with the situation in a healthy way.  And later on to help you take more control of the situation so you control the situation instead of it controlling you.

If you are going through a situation, or change that involves struggling with grief, feel free to contact me and see if I can be of use.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids Michigan.  He provides counseling for couples, teenagers, and adults.  He can help with anxiety, depression, stress, college and work stress, relationship problems, and more.  For more information, please visit the website at www.turnaboutcounseling.com.

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Solution Focused Counseling, also known as Solution Focused Brief Therapy, is a form of cognitive therapy.  The focus is on helping you figure out what positive changes you want to make in your life that will lead to better functioning, success, better relationships, and  better health.  Unlike many other forms of counseling, it does not focus on understanding the root cause of your problems. And does not delve into your history to get to the root of the problems.  Rather, it skips over this step and gets to building solutions.   We often make the distinction of “solution  building” rather than “problem solving”.  Problem solving refers to the idea that you have to understand how the problem started in order to fix it.  In traditional therapy, understanding why you do problematic behavior is necessary for you to choose to do something more healthy.  In solution building, it is not necessary to have a thorough understanding of why you do something in order to do something healthier. And in some cases, approaching a problem from the problem solving approach limits your ability to come up with alternative solutions.

Beginning the Process

We often start a Solution Focused counseling session with the question, “Imagine a year from now the problems that brought you to counseling are solved and you could see yourself one year into your future.  What are some things that will be different then that aren’t happening right now?”  Describing a future without the problem is the start of creating new ideas that will solve your problem.

Solution Focused counseling works well with many common concerns such as depression, anxiety, relationship problems, addiction, recovering from trauma, etc. Most people who try solution focused therapy leave sessions feeling of empowered and encouraged. They leave with concrete ideas to try out that will address their concerns.    The counselor asks questions to help you decide what you can do about it rather than just talking about it.

Effectiveness of Solution Focus Counseling

Most clients see gains by the second session as the therapist tends to get right to work.  I have  had several clients who came from a different therapist prior to seeing me. They comment that they appreciate a therapist who engages in solution talk rather than just encouraging them to vent.  They want to work on a problem and get specific ideas about what to do.

Does It Work For Everything?

There are drawbacks to all forms of therapy, however. One of the drawbacks to Solution Focused therapy is that even though clients solve their problems and their lives are on track again, sometimes clients still want to know why they were doing problematic behavior in the first place.  It can bother them to not know the answer to that question.’’  Sometimes they worry that the problem will resurface if they don’t know why it occurred in the first place.  However, I’ve never seen this happen in my practice. But if you’re the type of person who wants to know why you think or behave the way you do, you might prefer working with a psychoanalytic therapist.

Gary Watson is a Solution Focused Therapist in Grand Rapids Michigan.  He provides counseling for couples, teenagers, and adults.  He can help with anxiety, depression, stress, college and work stress, relationship problems, and more.  For more information, please visit the website at www.turnaboutcounseling.com.

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