Counseling in Chicago with Bill Martin, LCSW

If you are able to address and resolve conflict quickly, your relationship will likely grow and deepen. Your sex life will probably improve too, as unresolved anger can hurt your sexual intimacy.

Here are some questions for you to consider:

• Are you aware of any basic differences between you and your partner?
• Are you able to resolve these differences easily?
• Do these basic differences seem unresolvable?
• Do you live day to day with emotional hurts?
• Are your positions getting entrenched?
• Do you fear that you will never get what you hoped for in this relationship?
• Are you worried that your differences and disagreements will damage your relationship?

Take time to explore these questions and identify any of the obstacles to making improvements.

Scales compliments of the Gottman Institute.

Darth calls out to Luke to join him and the evil empire. When Luke refuses, Darth allows him to fall, knowing the fall will not kill him. Symbolically, this is important for both Luke and Darth.

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I invited Susan to use guided imagery to speak directly with her brother Bob. She worried that she did the wrong thing by not stopping his suicide. Using imagery might help her resolve this dilemma for herself.

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Please note: This is a fictionalized case-study. I have created this case scenario to stimulate thought and discussion about the complicated clinical and ethical dilemmas related to end of life care for patients and their families.

I will be very happy if this case is used for study purposes in an ethics or clinical therapy class.
Susan came to see me about a year after her brother Bob’s complicated death related to cancer. She had been referred by a friend who knew that I worked with many adults with life threatening illnesses and their families.

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Here is the link for this Evanston, Illinois based program. Click here.

Look at the struggle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. On the surface it looks like a fight to the death between father and son. Symbolically, their struggle can be understood to be about aspects of themselves that have either been lost or have not yet been awakened. For Darth, his humanity, all but lost. For Luke, accessing his developing power.
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As I said in my last post, Luke becomes more powerful as he integrates all the symbolic personality parts, represented by each and every character in Star Wars. Luke is merely the protagonist in the story. He meets, intensely connects, and symbolically integrates parts of every other character. This helps him gain power on his way to be a more mature, integrated human being with clarity of purpose, mission and action in the world.

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The personality archetypes and mythology of Star Wars reveal a lot of wisdom, if we look deeply enough. Luke is shocked to find out Darth Vader is his father, but follows his own destiny in letting himself fall into what seemed certain (physical) death. Luke’s letting go is a surrender and allows him to “fall into his own power.” Rather than die, he is led to his next spirit lesson, the awareness of his humanity and need for others. He can not go it alone.
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