Standard co-parenting advice fails when your ex has narcissistic features. Here is a clinical framework for protecting your children’s nervous systems, building enforceable parenting plans, and knowing when parallel parenting is the healthier choice.
Blended family challenges activate deep attachment wiring. A couples therapist explains what attachment science says about loyalty conflicts, co-parenting with an ex, and building a stepfamily that actually works.
Differentiation is your ability to hold onto yourself while staying emotionally connected to the person you love. Therapist Figs O’Sullivan explains Bowen’s concept and how it transforms relationships.
The triangle of conflict, developed by David Malan, reveals how hidden feelings, anxiety, and defense mechanisms create the destructive cycles that keep couples stuck. Learn how to identify your pattern and break free.
The cycle of disconnection and repair is the natural rhythm of every intimate relationship. Understanding why disconnection is inevitable and how repair strengthens the bond is the most important thing couples can learn.
The vulnerability cycle is the moment both partners drop their defenses, access their deeper emotions, and create a new experience of connection. Learn how EFT helps couples move from their reactive loop into genuine bonding.
Relational repair is not an apology. It is a biological process of restoring safety to a threatened nervous system. Learn what attachment science and EFT reveal about the rupture-repair cycle, why surface apologies fail, and how deep repair actually strengthens your bond.
Join the Empathi Newsletter
Subscribe to the newsletter and get tips from Figs and the Empathi team!
Share "Why Am I Unhappy in My Relationship? A Therapist Explains the 7 Hidden Reasons"
Reading this from the Bay Area? Figs and Teale see couples in person at 999 Sutter Street in San Francisco, and online across California.Free 30-minute consult