Couples Therapy & Relationship Counseling
Support for the patterns that keep coming between you
Relationships can become painful when the same conflict keeps happening in different forms.
You may start with a small disagreement, but somehow end up feeling misunderstood, criticized, dismissed, alone, or exhausted. One partner may push for connection while the other pulls away. One may feel abandoned; the other may feel overwhelmed. Both may feel unseen.
Over time, the relationship can begin to feel less like a place of safety and more like a cycle neither of you knows how to stop.
You may notice:
The same arguments repeating
Conversations escalating quickly
One or both partners shutting down
Difficulty repairing after conflict
Feeling more like roommates than partners
Loss of emotional or physical intimacy
Fear that your needs will not matter
Resentment, loneliness, or emotional distance
Confusion about whether the relationship can change
Couples therapy helps partners slow these patterns down, understand what is happening underneath them, and begin relating to each other with more clarity, care, and responsibility.
Forma Counseling offers couples therapy and relationship counseling for adults in Washington, DC.
Sessions are available in-person in Washington, DC and through telehealth where clinically appropriate.
What Couples Therapy Can Help With
Couples therapy is not only for relationships in crisis.
It can help partners who are struggling with ongoing conflict, disconnection, uncertainty, communication difficulties, or major life transitions.
Couples often seek therapy for:
Communication problems
Frequent arguing or emotional reactivity
Emotional distance or loneliness
Loss of intimacy or affection
Trust concerns or betrayal
Difficulty repairing after conflict
Attachment insecurity
Differences in needs, values, or expectations
Parenting stress
Blended family stress
Premarital or commitment-related questions
Separation, ambivalence, or uncertainty about the future
Feeling stuck in the same painful cycle
The goal is not to decide who is right.
The goal is to understand the relational pattern both partners are caught in and help the relationship become more honest, responsive, and emotionally safe.
Therapeutic Approaches We May Use
At Forma Counseling, couples therapy is tailored to the relationship rather than applied as a one-size-fits-all model.
For couples and relationship concerns, we may draw from:
Emotionally Focused Therapy to identify negative interaction cycles and strengthen emotional responsiveness, attachment security, and connection
Attachment-Based Therapy to understand how each partner responds to closeness, distance, vulnerability, fear, and emotional need
Imago Relationship Therapy to help partners reduce blame, understand each other’s inner world, and communicate with more empathy
Object Relations Couples Therapy explores how early childhood experiences shape the way partners relate to each other and identify unconscious patterns and emotional projections so they can break repeating patterns.
Psychodynamic therapy to explore how earlier relational experiences, family patterns, and unconscious expectations shape current relationship dynamics
CBT-informed therapy to identify distorted assumptions, rigid interpretations, negative predictions, and thinking patterns that intensify conflict
DBT-informed skills to strengthen emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and communication during high-conflict moments
Existential therapy to explore commitment, freedom, responsibility, loneliness, meaning, values, and the kind of relationship each partner is choosing to build
Clinical assessment tools when a clearer understanding of attachment patterns, emotional regulation, stress responses, or personality structure would help guide the work
This integrative approach allows therapy to address both the visible conflict and the deeper relational structures underneath it.
What You Can Expect
Couples often begin therapy feeling frustrated, guarded, hurt, or uncertain whether change is possible.
Over time, many couples develop:
A clearer understanding of their conflict cycle
More ability to pause before escalating
Better communication during difficult conversations
More emotional honesty and vulnerability
Greater empathy for each partner’s experience
Stronger repair after conflict
Clearer boundaries and agreements
More trust, closeness, and responsiveness
A deeper understanding of what the relationship needs in order to grow
Couples therapy does not promise that every relationship will continue.
But it can help partners understand each other more honestly, interrupt destructive patterns, and make clearer choices about the relationship.
Couples Therapy for Conflict, Connection, and Repair
A relationship can become strained when partners stop feeling emotionally safe with each other.
One person may feel abandoned. Another may feel criticized. One may want more closeness. Another may need more space. Over time, both may begin protecting themselves in ways that create more distance.
At Forma Counseling, couples therapy helps partners understand the deeper emotional pattern beneath the conflict.
The work is not about assigning blame.
It is about helping both partners become more aware, more responsible, and more able to reach for each other in ways that can actually be received.
The process is collaborative, emotionally focused, and grounded in the specific needs of the relationship.
Schedule Couples Therapy in Washington, DC
Forma Counseling offers couples therapy and relationship counseling for communication problems, conflict cycles, emotional disconnection, intimacy concerns, trust issues, attachment patterns, and relationship repair.
Sessions are available in-person in Washington, DC and through telehealth where clinically appropriate.
Request a free 20-minute consultation to see if working together feels right.