Relationship Enhancement

The RELATE Institute, affiliated with Brigham Young University, has developed useful relationship readiness and relationship quality assessments. You can find them here. These can be helpful for those in committed relationships to identify areas where some focused attention might be helpful, and also highlight the areas in your significant relationship where you are doing well. It might be a good conversation starter or couple activity if you are hoping to enhance a healthy relationship in your kids, too. If you are interested in a more in-depth assessment for your relationship, consider visiting the Life Innovations website for a Prepare-Enrich counselor in your area who can facilitate discussion around the instruments offered on their site.

Love Languages

What helps you to feel loved? Do you know what your spouse, partner, or significant other needs in order to feel that you love them? Have you considered the idea that different acts or comments feel loving to one person but not to another? This might sound like “fluff,” but it is critical information for busy doctors who need to make the most out of their limited time with significant others and family members. It is also helpful information for you to pass along to patients.

Dr. Gary Chapman has developed a helpful model of the five basic ways that individuals feel that they are loved. You can read about these here.

If you are interested in taking a brief inventory to find out what your love language is, you can find that here.

You can always try harder, but few people take the time to learn how to love their significant other smarter. It can pay big dividends to your relationship to fine tune your expressions of love into something that fits the needs and style of your partner.

Understanding Your Relationship/Partner

Relationships can be difficult at times, equalcouples.com wants to help you understand some common difficulties experienced by couples and provide you with practical ways of overcoming them. This blog was created by and is managed by a group of Licensed Marital and Family Therapists and MFT Doctoral student Interns.  The focus of the discussion is on how partners can create a mutually supportive relationship, which has been shown to contribute to the physical and mental health, as well as, the overall well-being of each partner. Topics discussed include communication, finances, religion, gender, culture, health, conflict, and intimacy, to name a few.

Dual Physician Couples

Being a member of a Dual Physician couple comes with its own challenges and strengths. The is an under-researched subject. Below are links to academic articles published on the topic of Dual Physician couples. Please note you may need to log into the libraries website to access these articles if you are offsite.

Women Physicians in Dual-physician Relationships compared with those in other Dual-career relationships