“We don’t know how to talk without fighting.”

Includes miscommunication, emotional shutdown, defensiveness, or passive-aggressiveness.

Feel distant, like roommates rather than romantic partners.

Often driven by unresolved hurt, emotional neglect, or stress overload.

Differences in libido, sexual frequency, or preferences.

One partner often feels rejected, the other pressured.

Physical or emotional affairs (including online or “micro-cheating”).

Need help rebuilding trust, understanding why it happened, and deciding whether to stay.

Unequal decision-making, control over money, parenting, pressure to provide income, home responsibilities or emotional labor.

Often reflects deeper dynamics of respect, autonomy, and fairness.

Disagreements about discipline, roles, or emotional availability to children. This can also extend to caring for elders.

Often intensified during early parenting, adolescence, and with elders, health problems.

Women frequently report feeling like “the emotional manager” or carrying the mental load.

Men may feel criticised or unsure how to contribute emotionally.

Past wounds or attachment patterns learned with families of origin play out in the current relationship.

Includes problems with each others' families due to enmeshment with parents, childhood trauma, or emotional avoidance.

One or both partners feel overcommitted or disconnected due to careers, kids, or stress.

Quality time and prioritising the relationship often become major goals in coaching and therapy.

One partner may seek more space or independence, the other more connection.

This pursuer-distancer dynamic is one of the most common relational cycles for heterosexual partners.

"Nothing is wrong, but something is missing."

These couples often want to reignite passion, find meaning, or prevent future breakdowns.