On Valentine’s Day, a lot of couples will be showing off their affection for one another, but a lot of other partnerships will be giving off clues that a breakup might be on the horizon.
According to research conducted by John Gottman, Ph.D., co-founder of the Gottman Institute, which offers couples’ counseling and educates mental health care providers, there are four signs that can predict with over 90% accuracy whether a couple will break up based on how they communicate with one another. These signs are based on how the couple interacts with one another.
What’s the upbeat report? There are approaches that can be taken to deal with these problems head-on.
Toxic Criticism
According to Kim Polinder, a relationship counselor based in Long Beach, California, who is also the host of the podcast “Engineering Love,” toxic criticism is the first indicator that an issue exists that has to be addressed. She shared this information with TODAY.com.
She cautions against making criticisms of your partner too frequently or making them in a generic and unjust manner. She argues that making broad statements like, “You never take the garbage out,” isn’t conducive to good dialogue since it assumes too much about the other person. She argues that when you use the words “never” and “always,” you are making a judgment about the character of the person you are speaking about rather than concentrating on the problem at hand.
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