Most relationships, romantic or otherwise, tend to get stuck in predictable patterns of conflict. This episode of the Being Well Podcast is about how to break relationship patterns and get things moving again. Dr. Rick and Forrest draw on Rick’s decades of work with couples and families to talk about getting on the same team, healthy boundaries, making clear requests, differentiation, and the pursuer-distancer dynamic. The episode closes with Forrest and his fiancée, associate therapist Elizabeth Ferreira, on fixing versus feeling, and how they worked through it in their own relationship.
Key Topics
- 00:00: Intro
- 01:30: What Rick wishes couples did differently
- 09:22: How to ask for what you want
- 16:36: Differentiation and family systems
- 28:33: When both people are right: content vs. tone
- 37:58: Why fighting can feel good
- 42:09: The pursuer-distancer dynamic
- 47:15: Resentment and requests about the future
- 55:33: Fixing vs. feeling with Elizabeth
- 1:06:59: Recap
