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How to Heal Past Hurts in a Relationship (When You Can’t Let It Go)
You’ve tried to move on. Maybe you’ve even told yourself it shouldn’t still bother you. But something that happened—months ago, years ago—keeps coming back. A comment during a fight. A betrayal of trust. A moment when you needed your partner, and they weren’t there.
If you can’t let go of a past hurt in your relationship, there’s usually a reason. And it’s not because you’re “too sensitive” or holding a grudge. It’s because something important was never fully repaired.
At The Relationship Therapy Center in Fair Oaks and Roseville, couples therapy and marriage counseling often involve helping couples finally heal wounds that have been festering—sometimes for years.
Can a Marriage Counselor Save a Marriage?
You’re reeling after realizing the extent of the denial you’ve been in for, oh, at least 6 years. It hit you on your commute to work: this is your...
Can Couples Therapy Help If We’re Not Sure We Even Want to Stay Together?
If you’re not sure whether you want to stay in your marriage, couples therapy can still help—maybe even especially then.
Here’s something that might surprise you: a “successful” outcome in couples therapy doesn’t always mean staying together. Sometimes it means finally getting the clarity you need to make a decision—one way or the other—with support instead of reactivity.
At The Relationship Therapy Center in Roseville and Fair Oaks, we regularly work with couples across the Sacramento area who are unsure about their future. Couples therapy and marriage counseling aren’t just for couples who’ve already decided to stay. It’s for couples who need help figuring out what’s next.
What Are the Most Common Problems Addressed in Marriage Counseling or Couples Therapy?
If you’re wondering whether your relationship problems are “bad enough” for therapy—or if other couples even deal with the same things—you’re not alone. At The Relationship Therapy Center, we’ve worked with hundreds of couples across Roseville, Fair Oaks, and the greater Sacramento area. And while every relationship is unique, the patterns that bring couples through our doors are remarkably consistent.
Here’s what we’ve learned: couples often think they’re fighting about the surface issue—money, chores, parenting, sex. But the real problem is usually the relationship dynamic underneath. Patterns that erode safety, friendship, trust, and connection over time. That’s what couples therapy and marriage counseling actually address.
Is Our Communication Bad Enough for Therapy?
As humans, we’re pretty adaptable. Adaptability is a good trait to have when you’re doing, let’s say, a home renovation. You don’t have a working kitchen and are having to take showers at the gym, but you’re flexible enough to make it work, albeit temporarily.
Adaptability is not so good when your relationship starts to slip, and rather than say, ‘hey, wait a minute, let’s fix this,’ you adapt by letting a state of constant bickering or not connecting becomes your new normal.
If you’re someone who thinks couples therapy is only for infidelity or “serious” issues, let this serve as a wakeup call: Many divorces occur due to a lack of communication and other seemingly innocuous issues that accumulate over time.
Here are some common indicators that your communication (or lack thereof) is slowly destroying your relationship.
How do I find a good couples therapist?
You’ve decided to try couples therapy—but now you’re staring at a list of names with no idea how to tell the difference between them. In California alone, there are thousands of licensed therapists who list “couples” as a specialty. But not all couples therapists are created equal.
At The Relationship Therapy Center, we hear this all the time: “You’re our third couples therapist.” The first two taught “I statements”—and they’re still fighting. If that’s been your experience (or your fear), you’re not being picky. You’re being smart. Finding the right therapist matters, and this guide will help you know what to look for—without needing a PhD in therapy acronyms.
What are Examples of Trauma?
What is trauma? Whenever your sense of safety is disrupted, your mind and body take notice.
The aftermath, how much it disrupts your life, is dictated by how you are affected by the experience, and the steps you take to heal.
Let’s take a look at the five main examples of trauma:
How do Busy Couples Find Time for Marriage Counseling?
You already invest in the things that matter—your health, your career, your kids. You know your marriage deserves the same attention. But between early meetings, travel schedules, soccer practice, and the hundred other things demanding your time, adding a standing weekly appointment can feel impossible.
If you’re a Sacramento-area professional wondering how couples therapy could ever fit into your life, you’re not alone. Many of the couples we work with at The Relationship Therapy Center are juggling the same constraints. The good news? There are more options than you might think—and you don’t have to choose between a strong relationship and a full calendar.
What Happens in an EMDR Session?
Many people think all that happens in therapy sessions is talk, talk, talk. However, therapists have a lot of tricks and tools up their sleeve, and EMDR is one of them. In fact, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) has proven so effective, it has become one of the leading trauma treatments.
What If One of Us Is More Motivated for Couples Therapy Than the Other?
You’ve been thinking about couples therapy for weeks—maybe months. You’ve read articles, looked up therapists, even imagined what it might feel like to finally have someone help you two get unstuck. But your partner? They’re not there yet. Maybe they’ve said, “We don’t need that,” or they go quiet every time you bring it up.
If you’re reading this from your car in a Roseville parking lot or scrolling on your phone after another tense evening, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common concerns we hear at The Relationship Therapy Center—and it doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker. When one partner is more ready, it doesn’t mean the relationship is doomed. It usually means you’re the one who’s noticing the distance first—and trying to do something brave about it.
What are the Toughest Years of Marriage?
The tricky thing about life is it’s hard to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to survive unforeseen circumstances. The future is distant, and things are going really well, so why bother?
One of the many perks of life is, resources exist to provide you with the knowledge you need to arm yourself against unforeseen circumstances. Sure, the work can be hard at times but it’s worth it.
Whether you’re a newlywed still riding high on honeymoon magic, or you’re experiencing big life changes where things start to become rocky. These are the toughest years of marriage, and what you can do to come out strong.
What type of therapy is Best for Couples?
You’ve decided it’s time to do something about your relationship. That’s a big step. But the moment you start researching couples therapy, you hit a wall of options—EFT, CBT, Gottman Method, Imago, narrative therapy, solution-focused… and suddenly you’re wondering if choosing the wrong approach is worse than not going at all.
If you’re a Sacramento-area professional who researches everything before committing (as you should), the overwhelm makes sense. You want to know you’re not wasting time. You want to know if the therapist can actually work with two people in the room. And you want a path that doesn’t feel like endless “processing” without real change—because you already have a full-time job, a life, maybe kids, and very little patience for guesswork.
Here’s what we want you to know: the best couples therapy is the one that’s research-based and fits what’s actually happening in your relationship. Not every approach works the same way. And not every therapist—even a good one—is trained to do couples work well.
At The Relationship Therapy Center, couples therapy and marriage counseling is what we do best. It makes up about half of our practice. We’re not generalists who occasionally see couples between individual clients—we’ve built our entire team around helping relationships heal.
Whether you’re a dual-income couple juggling careers near the State Capitol or balancing family life across the Sacramento suburbs, this post will help you understand what makes couples therapy effective—and how to choose the right approach and the right therapist.
How to Treat Each Other with Respect
How do I treat my partner with respect? Why is it that when we get married or are in a relationship, we forget the common rules of respecting one...
Micro-Cheating: Signs and What to Do About It
What is Micro-chating? Micro-cheating is a less blatant form of cheating. The partner engaging in the act may not even be fully aware of what they’re doing, and how detrimental it can be to their current relationship.
Micro-cheating involves cultivating emotional intimacy with someone outside of the parameters of a current relationship, in a way that could hurt the other party in the relationship.
Similar to emotional cheating, there is usually no touching or physical intimacy. While a true definition of micro-cheating can vary slightly according to personality and comfort level in a relationship, signs of micro-cheating are:
What is it Like to be Married to Someone with ADHD?
First comes the frustration: damp towels abandoned on the bedroom carpet. Kitchen cabinet doors left open. The junk drawer expands to a second drawer, then a third.
They go from zero to frustrated faster than a Bugatti reaches top speed. Despite constant reminders, they’re often late and forgetful.
You’ve said, how many times do I have to show you where the laundry basket is? almost as many times as you’ve said, I love you. Because, despite all the frustrations, you do.
What is it like to be married to someone with ADHD? It often feels like you’re the only adult in the house.
The good news is, help is available. Couples therapy is an incredibly effective way to manage ADHD.
First, it’s worth noting the importance of receiving an official diagnosis. About 25% of Americans suspect they have ADHD, yet have not received a diagnosis from a qualified source. A therapist can diagnose and help treat ADHD.
Reach out to start your healing journey today
