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If you’ve landed on this page, you may understand that relationships can be the source of great pain.
But what if we told you, it can also be the source of your most profound growth?
The principle behind Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT) is to help both partners relate to one another in healthier, more mindful ways so they can grow as both individuals and partners.
By marrying spiritual philosophies with behavioral and personality theories, our trained therapists can guide couples into unraveling their unconscious patterns that may be leading to dysfunctional behaviors and miscommunication in their relationship.
How did this modality get its unique name?
Well, Imago in Latin translates to “Image,” and in the context of Imago Relationship Therapy, it points to the unconscious image of familiar love that we look for in our romantic partners.
And we’re not talking about those surface level traits, like personality or appearance but rather those under-the-hood characteristics that keep showing up in every partner we meet.
And hint: we may not even be aware of it.
Has anyone ever pointed out that you tend to date the same person over and over again?
Believe it or not, there’s a rhyme and reason for why we keep attracting similar people into our lives.
We’re so confident in our extraordinary therapists that we guarantee you’ll love your match – or your money back.
At My LA Therapy, our highly-vetted Anxiety experts are selected not only for their clinical acumen but for who they are.
No, your picker is not broken, you’re actually choosing partners based on the relationship you had with your parents or primary caretakers.
While we may seek love consciously, we unconsciously seek people who are similar to the “imago” or dynamic created in childhood.
Often, we find ourselves with a partner that mirrors both the positive and the negative (sigh) qualities of our parents and other prominent figures in our early lives.
Because of this, we unconsciously behave and communicate in ways to get our unmet needs met and our wounds healed.
The dilemma: we keep trying to get our needs met with a partner who often can’t meet our needs in order to prove to ourselves that we are worthy of getting our needs met (a.k.a. “love”).
Sounds exhausting, right?
But don’t throw in the towel yet!
That’s where Imago Relationship Therapy comes into play.
The work done in Imago Relationship Therapy can help reveal the wounds and experiences that occurred in childhood that have led us to behave in particular ways in relationships.
Once we recognize and acknowledge those wounds and experiences, we can then begin to communicate our needs more effectively to our partners and allow them to show up for us in ways that lead to healing within the relationship.
And vice versa.
*Cue the sigh of relief*
Imago Relationship Therapy helps couples to remove criticism, negativity, and judgment, and to replace those with mirroring, validation, and empathy.
The key ingredients needed for a healthy, thriving relationship.
Couples will learn to communicate in helpful and positive ways that will allow their partner to understand one another’s’ needs.
The work of Imago Therapy is based on re-imagining your partner, re-romanticizing your relationship, restructuring your communication, resolving feelings, and re-visioning your relationship.
Time to break out that vision board!
But how do you sustain these vital changes post-therapy, especially when arguments ensue outside of the therapy room?
Imago Relationship Therapy is an ongoing journey that requires consistent commitment from both partners.
Couples will often continue the “in-session” work outside of session to reinforce new communication and relational patterns.
Just as damaging patterns emerge through repetition, it takes consistent, repeated practice and reinforcement to replace them with new and empowering behaviors.
The good news is, therapy can successfully help you identify and change underlying thought and behavioral patterns that contribute to your relational and communication problems, and provide you with strategies to decrease discomfort while restoring an overall sense of peace.
To experience true and lasting joy in life, we must heal our underlying trauma and by confronting our fears and learning new ways of relating to ourselves and restoring self-trust and vitality.
See the About Therapy page for a deeper look into this process.
Our evidence-based, scientifically proven interventions are demonstrated by research to be effective for improving relationships and communication.
Through treatment techniques like Imago Relationship Therapy, we can help you take the correct direction in making the lifestyle changes that can allow you to heal and improve your relationships.
Learn more about our empirically based therapy modalities by visiting our Methods page.
Therapist
I am blown away! I don’t write testimonials, unless I have been extremely moved by something. I was blessed to work with Brooke on a single session, and before this I was in therapy on and off with multiple therapists for the last 20 years of my life. Brooke was able to do more in one session than many years of work with my previous therapist. She has the true gift of great insight and compassion while also getting straight to the heart of your blind spots and unconscious issues in a way that has truly changed my life.
Skyler J.
There are people who are good at their work there are people like Brooke: who are born to do it. I cannot recommend Brooke more highly. I can only imagine where I would be today if I had started working with her years ago. From the beginning of our session, she knew exactly what tools and questions that would work for my particular psychology and my personal experience. No other therapist has been able to do that or anything close.
What I also really appreciate from our session is Brooke's ability to go directly to the source of the issue while also keeping a very gentle and kind energy with me. I felt very seen, understood, and supported. Everything and more that I could have ever asked for from a therapist. I have a severe trauma history and complex issues she was able to immediately identify and help. If she could help me, I know she can help you too.
Taylor E.
You did more in 45 minutes than my last therapist did in a year.
Jamie
With your help, I've finally started to understand that while my vivid imagination often wants to create terrifying monsters under the bed, in a lot of cases those monsters are nothing more than a heap of decidedly less-terrifying laundry I've avoided for too long that just needs to be aired out and put away. Which is definitely a lot easier than monster slaying. Thank you for shedding light in the dark places I was too afraid to face alone.
Morgan B.
I am extremely fortunate to work with Sydney, who is helping me create real internal change. The talent to listen well is Hall of Fame stuff, and she has that. She then follows with questions, strategies that are organic to the moment. I have come to believe that deep, radical, if occasionally deeply painful change ... and, then, healing can happen. I'm just at the lip of that last part - but would not have gotten there, AT ALL, without Sydney
Ric K.
The best therapist ever! Life-changing 🙂
Catherine H.
Right now, the work is changing my life, sometimes in inches, sometimes in miles.
Ric K.
