Maplewood Counseling

Honesty in Your Marriage and Relationship


Relationship Honesty

Helping Couples Build Trust

Maplewood Counseling

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Relationships and Honesty

Do you struggle with honesty in your relationship?  Are there things you don’t share with you spouse or partner?  Are you afraid to tell things with your spouse or partner something?

Being dishonest does not necessarily mean your are deliberately lying – in the case of someone directly asking if something is wrong or sensing something is wrong and directly asking. But lying to avoid getting caught in something potentially very damaging to your relationship – an affair, is a different type of dishonesty. Men and women are dishonest for different reasons sometimes.

Is this you?

  • You’re having an affair and are feeling stuck in a very bad situation
  • You’re texting other women or men and flirting and it’s hard to stop
  • You don’t tell your spouse or partner important things because you don’t want to hurt him or her
  • You don’t say how you really feel about sex and end up going through the motions and feeling unhappy
  • You don’t feel you can share what you want or need because you’re spouse won’t understand or care
  • You’re afraid your husband or wife will get angry if you say how you really feel about something

Lack of honesty will eventually lead to bigger problems, A couples can get very disconnected over time if they don’t share how unhappy they are about certain things and just accept it will never change. To deal with the disconnect, sometime one partner will find some relief in the attention from someone else. Disconnection and unhappiness at home can make many people very vulnerable to the smallest amount of attention from the outside.

It is important to be honest more now to reduce bigger problems down the road. If you need help to prevent bigger problems or if have already crossed over into infidelity or other bigger problems, get in touch.

How to Complain Without Hurting Your Partner


Improving Your Communication

Without Being Hurtful
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How to Complain Without Hurting Your Partner

We had to remove a video here that explained how to do this.

BreaThere are many ways you can communicate your anger and frustration without being hurtful – critical, nasty, devaluing and other negative ways to communicate. It will only cause more damage to the relationship. You can learn better ways to express these emotions.

Breaking a pattern or habit of putting your partner down when you are upset will take some work. If you are determined you can eventually stop a negative way of expressing your anger, hurt, sadness or frustration. It will ultimately not get you what you want if you are hurtful to your spouse or partner. Connection takes eventually becoming more vulnerable and less prickly when you are upset.

All couples will always go through “ruptures” and it is all about the repair. How to resolve issues when they come since they WILL come up. It is all about how you resolve your conflict. If you ware determined to do a better job, you can. You might need the help of an experienced therapist to help you break negative patterns and learn better ways to do this.

Need help? Get in touch.