1 AugPsychology Today: 5 Proven Steps to Reconnect with Family and Friends by Dr. Konstantin Lukin, Ph.D. No matter who you are, maintaining healthy relationships with friends and family can be difficult. We tend to fall into reactive and negative interaction patterns, which often lead to disconnect. Positive, strong, and healthy relationships take work to maintain. Being analytical about your own and others’ emotions is a proven way to help get the most out of a relationship. Paying attention to, processing, and communicating emotions is key. These skills are certainly not easy to develop, but Emotion Focused Therapy can help one to learn these ever-important skills. Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) encourages individuals to become attuned to their emotions and those of others, and use emotional information to guide behavior and interactions in the context of important relationships. EFT can be useful in repairing relationships and negative patterns that may exist. It aims to help both people regulate emotions and communicate in an effective way. Here are five steps to help reconnect disconnected relationships. 1. Identify the triggering effect of the other person’s behavior. Is a friend consistently late to plans? Does your brother talk over you at family gatherings? Every relationship is unique, but when problems arise and reparation is necessary, it’s likely that some kind of negative interaction pattern has set in. Brainstorm and analyze what the other person is doing that is causing a reaction from you. Read the Full Article on Psychology Today Author Dr. Konstantin Lukin, Ph.D. Dr. Konstantin Lukin is a psychologist, author, speaker, and researcher specializing in men’s issues, couple’s counseling, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is the Director and Co-Founder of the Lukin Center, northern New Jersey’s premiere evidence-based psychotherapy practice. The Lukin Center emphasizes evidence-based treatments such as emotion-focused therapy for couples, and cognitive and dialectical behavioral therapies for children, adolescents, and adults. Since its inception, the Lukin Center has grown to include testing and assessment as well as medication management services. As a therapist, Dr. Lukin focuses on providing support and practical feedback to help clients effectively address personal life challenges. He integrates complementary modalities and techniques – including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), schema-focused therapy, and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) – to offer a personalized approach tailored to each client. With compassion and understanding, he works with his clients to help them build on their strengths and attain the personal growth to which they are committed. Dr. Lukin has extensive experience in private practice, conducting outpatient therapy with children, adolescents, and adults. He also has extensive clinical and research experience with people of all ages and their families, including those diagnosed as severely and persistently mentally ill, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. He has co-led groups for children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with OCD in an outpatient setting. He is trained and experienced in administering a variety of psychological test batteries including neuropsychological, cognitive, and personality assessments, and he has conducted diagnostic and intake interviews and prepared evaluation reports. Dr. Lukin is a graduate of the Honors College at SUNY at Stony Brook, and earned his doctorate from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
