Relationship Dish

We would like to wish you a very Happy Valentines Day from us at Relationship Dish. Love the one you're with, and most importantly love yourself to help love others more. Iona and Pam

This week the therapists dish and dive about the pursuer position in the cycle. Iona is a pursuer and Pam is married to one, so there is plenty of fodder to go around! Learn what the pursuer really needs, feels and longs for and how their stance can sabotage themselves and their partner. The more I pursue, the more you withdraw!   Learn how to break out of this conflict, voice what you need and get what you need from your partner.

Listen in this week as Iona and Pam dish and dive about growing apart from their partners. It can happen to the best of us but how do we know if it’s just a phase or something more permanent? Pam and Iona weigh in on their own experiences and learn how to tell the difference and how to stop the disconnection dead in its tracks.

As a special treat to celebrate our recent 100th episode, this week the therapists interview Eric, Pam’s husband, to find out what impact the podcast has had on him, the relationship and Pam. We learn what’s changed for Eric as a result of his partner’s podcast journey and how their relationship has grown over the past 2 years. We also hear what’s remained the same and what Eric’s learned about himself through the eyes of the podcast. Finally, listeners get to hear from the other side!

Listener pick! Just in time for cold and flu season... Listen in this week as the therapists discuss hypochondria. Ever worry if the headache you have is really a tumour? Or if the cough you have is more nefarious than you think? Many of us, of course,  wonder from time to time, but to obsess constantly about these long shots is the pain of hypochondria.    Pam and Iona discuss how it has personally touched their lives and the lives of those they care about. Learn what it is and how to manage it if you suffer and how to help someone you love get through it! It can be a tricky one to treat, but, there is help and recovery as you’ll find out.

Listen in this week as the therapists dish about healthy guilt. Is that a thing? You betcha! Sometimes feeling healthy guilt is really useful. Pam and Iona dish about their healthy guilt and the fallout they’ve experienced of not truly feeling it. Dive into the literature about healthy guilt and learn its vital role in our lives, if we’ll accept it!

Happy new year! What better way to start 2020 than with learning how to regulate your emotions so that you can maintain your relationships!  Listen in as the therapists dish about their own struggles with discharging emotions in their relationships and the damage it’s done.   Then learn what the literature says about the window of tolerance and  how to keep ourselves within it so we can stay true to our own emotions while keeping the connection with our partners. A juggling act and a fine balance! 

Happy New Year and Happy Holidays, Here is a replay of one of our favourite episodes, Falling in Love. Sometimes we have to do away with the image we create  of our partner, so we can meet and fall in love with who this person really is. They learn that this is not a selfish thing, that another person is not out on this earth to fill all of our fantasies, but rather to be loved for who they truly are. Listen in and decide if you’re willing to fall in love with the actual person you’re with,  instead of the fantasy of what this person can offer you. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Here is a replay of one of our favourite episodes. The Critic. This week the therapists dish and dive about that critical voice in their heads, their inner critics. They look at where they come from and  how we can learn to manage them so they don’t take over our lives. Listen in and learn how to beat those negative voices! 

This week the therapists continue their interview with a couple who are beating the odds! Typically divorce rates for second marriages are even higher than for firsts. But not for this couple!  Listen in and learn how they've persevered against toxic ex partners, blended families and outside responsibilities to keep and nurture the love they found with each other the second time around.  Our final in a special 2 part episode.

This week the therapists interview a couple who are beating the odds! Typically divorce rates for second marriages are even higher than for firsts. But not for this couple!  Listen in and learn how they've persevered against toxic ex partners, blended families and outside responsibilities to keep and nurture the love they found with each other the second time around. 

Listen in this week as the therapists dish and dive about adult growth and development. Why is it that so many adults believe that once you’re of drinking age, that you’re done developing? Adults must continue to grow and mature until death or else stagnation ensues! Learn how to grow and mature in your adult years so you can have the best possible relationships with self and others!

Listen in this week as the therapists conclude their conversation with the single ladies. Learn from them how to have a happy and full filling life, with or without a partner and understand how they find joy and meaning in their day to day lives.

Listen in this week as the therapists talk with two single women about their lives and loves. Learn how they thrive in a “couples’ world” and understand where and how they find meaning in their lives. What relationships matter most to them? What fulfills them? What teaches them about themselves? Part 2 will continue next week. Don’t miss it! 

This week the therapists dish and dive about the low level forces that can compete with intimacy. They look at their own relationship struggles and learn how things like pride, the search  for objective truth and power struggling can arm wrestle with the intimacy you share with your partner. Learn how to spot and conquer these forces before they damage your relationship. 

This week the therapists dish and dive about Seasonal Affective Disorder aka SAD.  With the fall time change upon us, many of us struggle with having less daylight hours. Pam and Iona weigh in on the issue of seasonal depression and come up with some great preventative measures to keep you from feeling down during the darkest months of the year.

This week the therapists dish and dive about getting blindsided; when the universe throws you a curveball.   Iona weighs in on her recent experience of being knocked off her feet with unexpected bad news and realizes how excessive worry does not protect her or control any further reverberations. Pam weighs in on some of the curveballs that life’s thrown at her, and looks at how she’s navigated through without actually dealing with her feelings. They dive into the literature about how to deal with the unexpected in a healthier and more productive manner. Life throws us curveballs, learn how to deal!

This week the therapists weigh in on their relationships with their mothers....cue scary music! They wonder how they’re like them, different from them and how they’ve been generally influenced by their mothers.  They then dive into the literature on the mother daughter relationship to determine if they are destined and predisposed to become their mothers, or if they can live and mother as they choose. 

Listen in this week as the therapists answer a listener’s question: How do you know when to leave a relationship? Pam and Iona discuss the reasons for having left or stayed in their own relationships through the years, then dive into some literature that can help guide the decision whether to stay or to go.

This week, as a special thanksgiving episode, the therapists dish and dive about loneliness. Pam and Iona discuss the difference between being alone and being lonely and reminisce about times in their lives when they’ve felt lonely. They dive into the literature and learn that there’s a difference between being  alone and feeling lonely. They’re not the same! Listen in and learn.