Back to Specialty Areas What Is Psychotherapy for Couples? Creating and maintaining healthy, fulfilling relationships requires work, sometimes hard work. Areas of focus in psychotherapy for couples include Self-Awareness, Communication, Intimacy, and Sex. Healthy, fulfilling, deep intimate relationships require a high degree of self-awareness on both individuals? parts, effective communication, and the ability to self-regulate one?s emotions. These are all skills that can be learned to the extent that each individual is open and willing to grow. How Psychotherapy Helps Psychotherapy is helpful for couples to express themselves in ways they haven't been able to, to identify shared goals for improving the relationship, to gain greater insight into how each individual contributes to the difficulties they are having, and to create a mutually satisfying, healthy relationship. Many times couples wait until they are utterly frustrated before seeking psychotherapy. Dr. Franklin creates the safe, supportive environment necessary for a couple to do the explorative of repairing, creating or recreating, and sustaining intimacy. Many books have been written on improving relationships, but some of the most helpful are in the Dr. Franklin's Recommended Reading List.