Vulnerability
The willingness to show something that could cost you — and, for exactly that reason, the condition for closeness.
How it shows up
Saying you’re afraid. Asking for help. Admitting a mistake without explanation. Vulnerability is uncomfortable because there is no guarantee how it will end.
What we do with it in therapy
The therapy room is a place where vulnerability is practised at lower risk. Once you experience that the relationship holds, it becomes possible outside too.
See also
Postnatal distress
A range from mild low mood after birth to postnatal depression and anxiety, which need treatment.
Psychodynamic therapy
An approach that looks for the origin of present difficulties in early relationships and in what remained unconscious.
Conflict
A collision of two needs — in itself not a sign of a bad relationship, but a sign of two people.
