Love Yourself: The First Step to a Successful Relationship

Besides developing an emotional support system as an antidote to being emotionally dependent, it’s critical that a male develops qualities within himself that he might define as feminine. This was true in my own case, and I have seen the same issue with many men I have worked with in therapy over the years.

This kind of client is in complete denial of how they contribute to any problem. In fact, in their mind, they don’t have a problem, so why are they even talking about the issue? Alcoholism is the classic situation, where a person might have two arrests for driving under the influence, but still doesn’t believe he has an alcohol problem. Dependents

Many parents validate their child’s self-esteem based on what activities they pursue. If a father has a son and dreams of him playing football or some other sport that the father has a passion for, he expects that his son will pursue this passion. If he does, he will get tons of validation for meeting his father’s expectations. If he doesn’t follow

Some people create physical boundaries because they can’t establish psychological ones.

So he has great curb appeal, but behind closed doors, it is a whole different story. The operative word is boring. He brings little or no emotional life to the relationship. It’s all hidden and shut down. His whole goal is harmony and peace in his family life. No conflict. So there is no realism, no truth of emotion or passion. His wife is not his

The basic boundary application process deals with the emotions of comfortable versus uncomfortable.

Is the individual who is using these self-directed critical parent statements aware that he is causing himself a certain level of resentment? I don’t think he is conscious of what he is doing. Usually he notices the symptoms, with the number one being different levels of depression. Another symptom is a lack of motivation to get the things done tha

The basic question is how can an adult truly love himself or herself if they are dependent on another adult either economically or emotionally? It’s normal for a child to be dependent on their parents for both of these needs. If an adult finds himself or herself in a dependent relationship, their self-worth will be compromised.

This false sense of control gives the co-dependent the feeling that they are not vulnerable when they are in a relationship. They think they have the power to…

Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.