PACT Couple THERAPY
WHAT IS PACT?
PACT, or for A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy®, is known for helping even the most challenged couples. Developed by Dr. Stan Tatkin, PACT draws on well-founded research to help couples understand that relationship interactions are reciprocal and each partner is responsible for fostering positive, enduring relationships.
PACT Principles help you become aware of arousal regulation and how old behaviors are being reenacted and habitual patterns are being repeated by you and your partner. The practice combines three areas that work with underlying biological and physiological issues: neuroscience, attachment theory, and arousal regulation. The combination of these three areas helps explain why a couple is having difficulty.
Here’s how they work together:
Neuroscience is the study of the brain. It provides a physiological understanding of why we act the way we do and how that affects interactions within relationships. Neuroscience reveals that different areas of your brain are programed to perform different functions. For example, specific parts of your brain are programmed to reduce threat and danger and seek security, while others are wired to make human connection with others.
Attachment theory delves into our biological need to bond. Unfulfilled or negative relationships from the past can affect your feelings of safety and security in relationship, which in turn affects actions and reactions in current relationships. If one or both partners have unresolved lifelong insecurities, these can be the source of deep challenges for a couple.
Human arousal is the state of being physiologically alert, awake, and attentive. It affects how alert each person is and their readiness to engage with their partner. The observation of human arousal can provide insight into how each person reacts to stress and how those reactions affect interactions with a partner.
In couples therapy, I use proven PACT principles derived from these areas to help you understand why your relationship problems happen, the patterns you repeat, the source of those patterns, and how you can work to overcome old “stuff” and find new ways of interacting with each other that leads to secure functioning.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN A PACT SESSION
PACT sessions take a unique approach and may require fewer sessions than other forms of couples therapy. Sessions often exceed 50-minutes and can last as long as 3 to 6 hours to allow for in-depth work.
During your session, we will work interactively and focus on several areas. I will create experiences similar to those causing difficulty in your relationship and help you work through them. I will watch for changes in your face, body, and voice that signal your feelings. I will make you aware of these and ask you to pay close attention as a couple so you can learn to recognize these signals and learn to control your reactions. To provide immediate visual feedback, I may videotape sessions.
I strongly believe it is vital to understand how you interact in a relationship and how you can change the patterns that aren’t working for you and your partner. I would be honored to work with you to develop an atmosphere of trust and security and make your relationship more fulfilling.