High Conflict Marriage - Sherman Oaks Marriage Help - Sherman Oaks Marriage Therapist

Having satisfying relationships is the tell-all of good mental health. So much so, that it is my contention that the parent-child relationship, not the marriage, is the greater influence on a child’s future happiness. Most experts believe the opposite. They believe the happiness of the parents’ marriage will be the final predictor of whether their children will one day get divorced or be happily married. I believe differently. Obviously, having children see their mother and father living in harmony, love and respect is best. But, if children do not see their parents happily married, or if the parents are divorced, the opportunity for that child to acquire the relationship skills to relate successfully to others is not lost.

The earliest awareness of relationships by young children are not experienced through the eyes of their parents’ compatibility, but through their feelings of compatibility with each parent individually. Having satisfying relationships is the tell-all of good mental health.When parents argue, the key lies in how each parent acknowledges the discord their children see and hear when one spouse loses self-control or exhibits obnoxious, sarcastic, or tantrum-like behavior themselves. In my workshops, as well as in my book Raising an Adult, I offer parents the antidote to a parents’ well-meaning, but destructive psychological behavior.