Intimate Relationships as a Vehicle for Growth

This guest article from Psych Central was written by Odina Hatvany, MFT.

The old paradigm for couples was pretty simple: The man went to work, brought home the money and paid for the house, mortgage, etc. He was the provider of security and stability. The woman’s role was to cook, clean, raise the children and take care of the home. She was the provider of emotional nurturing and comfort. The roles were clearly defined and rigid. How many of us have parents who fit this model or at least strived to?

Much of this has changed now. Women have jobs and careers, men may stay at home as the primary caregivers, and relationships run across a much broader spectrum than the old “He/She” model. For instance, now there are “He/ He” and “She/ She” models for couples. And there are couples who do not necessarily form a dyad. A “couple” could be in a committed triad relationship or be part of a larger poly community. There are numerous variations on these alternatives, and so it goes on. But what hasn’t changed much is that many relationships still run on unspoken contracts or implicit agreements regarding roles and expectations. When these contracts are broken, couples often get angry with each other and start pointing fingers.

Take the lesbian couple I was seeing last week. They had been very much in love until they decided to buy a house together. Shortly after their purchase, Suzy*, the main breadwinner, was laid off. She then had to take a job she hated in order to pay the mortgage and so that her partner, Chrissy*, could finish school. As a result, Suzy fell into a major depression and emotionally disappeared on Chrissy, who was at a loss as to how to get back the old Suzy she knew and loved.

The implicit agreement in their relationship was that Suzy held the role of emotional and material “provider” while Chrissy added the fun and spark in the relationship. Now this agreement was in jeopardy, which was upsetting the balance of their relationship. Chrissy fell into an abandonment depression and emotionally withdrew from the relationship. They came to my office five years later with complaints of “no sex” and “no emotional connection.” Their relationship was on the rocks.

Fundamentally, Chrissy was angry with Suzy for not upholding her end of their unspoken contract, which was to provide a safe haven of nurturing and comfort—not just by paying for the house but by providing emotional support as well. Suzy was disappointed that Chrissy was so distant and not much fun to be around. They were each secretly convinced that the problem lay with the other person and not with themselves.

I don’t go along with what I call the Blame/Shame Game. In other words, I don’t encourage finger-pointing; instead, I encourage couples to look at how they are each contributing to the negative situation they find themselves in. This approach creates opportunities to increase self-awareness and to grow within the relationship. Developing this ability to take responsibility for your own contributions is a fundamental ingredient if you want your relationship to serve as a vehicle for your growth. Let’s look at how this happened for Suzy and Chrissy.