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What is imago relationship therapy?
Imago Relationship Therapy, co-created by Dr. Harville Hendrix and his wife Dr. Helen-LaKelly Hunt, is a form of relationship and couple's therapy that offers a new way to co-create loving relationships. As explained in their New York Times bestseller, Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples, Imago is the Latin work for "image" and refers to a composite Image that we take from childhood into adulthood of the people that raised us and the experiences we had. All the things that our caretakers did that helped us, and hurt us, all the "should" and "shouldn't" messages that we received, these are all tucked into our subconscious and provides a template for who we are drawn to as adults. This composite image, or "Imago", has us be attracted to and attractive to, and triggered by and triggering to someone who matches a lot of our caretakers traits. We then can finish what's unfinished and heal what's been hurt with kind of similar people to those in our childhood.
Imago therapists give couples specific tools for getting underneath the top layer or two of difficulty to address the real issues at the heart of their conflicts because couples tend to repeat the same conflict over and over. This gives couples a new way to see their relationship and to communicate the dialogue in a constructive way. In Imago, the relationship is the client and it is this relational paradigm that makes Imago so unique. As couples become more conscious, they can take their relationship from one that might have mostly conflict, frustration, and disconnection, to one that is mostly filled with healing, growth, intimacy and connection.
For couples who have children, this is an opportunity to provide a model for healthy relationships. After all, our children live in the space of our relationship. Whatever stage of life you are in, Imago therapy with an Imago therapist provides a framework for co-creating the relationship that you want to have.
At Personal Growth Associates, Joseph Ripp, Psy.D., Mark Vogel, Psy.D., and Rhiannon Seward, Psy.D. are all trained Imago therapists. For more information, please call our intake line at 847-413-9700, ext. 305.
Imago therapists give couples specific tools for getting underneath the top layer or two of difficulty to address the real issues at the heart of their conflicts because couples tend to repeat the same conflict over and over. This gives couples a new way to see their relationship and to communicate the dialogue in a constructive way. In Imago, the relationship is the client and it is this relational paradigm that makes Imago so unique. As couples become more conscious, they can take their relationship from one that might have mostly conflict, frustration, and disconnection, to one that is mostly filled with healing, growth, intimacy and connection.
For couples who have children, this is an opportunity to provide a model for healthy relationships. After all, our children live in the space of our relationship. Whatever stage of life you are in, Imago therapy with an Imago therapist provides a framework for co-creating the relationship that you want to have.
At Personal Growth Associates, Joseph Ripp, Psy.D., Mark Vogel, Psy.D., and Rhiannon Seward, Psy.D. are all trained Imago therapists. For more information, please call our intake line at 847-413-9700, ext. 305.