Denise Galt, LCSW


Counseling and Psychotherapy for Couples and Individuals
Offices in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and Novato

Telephone: (707) 330-5321
Also available most weekends

What is Imago Relationship Therapy?

Imago Relationship Therapy was founded by Dr. Harville Hendrix, PhD, author of Getting the Love You Want, Keeping the Love You Find, Giving the Love that Heals, and most recently co-author of Receiving Love. Dr. Hendrix, Oprah’s favorite couples' therapist, has created a workable way for couples to move from conflict, chronic disappointment, and hurt to passion and safety in their conscious, committed relationship. This form of therapy is based on more than insight, and it involves using specific processes practiced on a regular basis to achieve the transformation from a unconscious to a conscious relationship. It is based on the idea that often in intimate relationships people find themselves re-experiencing pain that originated in childhood, not necessarily from bad parenting but through the reality that no one had a perfect childhood. Unconsciously, in an effort to regain original aliveness and wholeness that we were born with, we recreate the psychological dynamics that we experienced in childhood in hopes of finding resolution and healing from childhood disappointments.

Imago therapy involves learning new ways to get needs met and changing behaviors that no longer serve their original purposes but now keep individuals from finding the love and connection that brought them together in the first place. This process creates a spiritual path to grow together as a couple. In time, after learning new ways to be in the relationship, the need for regular therapy decreases and the relationship itself becomes the therapy. At that point, much of the ongoing work can be done by couples with periodic coaching/therapy for particularly problematic areas. In Imago, it is often said that if you do not work things our with your current partner, you will move on, and in time you will find yourself with another person but your dissatisfaction will come back and you will again be faced with the decision to do the work with that current partner or to keep finding the next person, never resolving the core issues that repeatedly present themselves. Imago can transform your relationship if you are willing to do the work involved.