The Couple's Developmental Stage in Their Relationship

Strength
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Mike and Ann are a fulfilled couple albeit some element of struggles, some of which are common in most relationships. The couple has been dating for last three year and over the years they have grown fond of each other and their relationship is slowly gaining cohesion associated with commitment. Over the years the couple has been developing their relationship with quite some significant success. Through their development stage, there have been quite some interesting bits of their relationship. Like most couples, they have experienced the rush of emotions associated with attraction that they feel for one another. This has been associated with closeness and the elements of falling in love. According to the couple, they all admit that this has been a very intense stage for them relative to the fact that, they have experienced extreme liking for one another (Muzik, 2012). They have also been experiencing romantic moments together as is common among most couples at this stage of their development. As such, much of the closeness is also associated with a lot of intimacy. According to the couple, like their attraction that they feel towards one another, their level of intimacy has also been quite strong. However, of late they have been experiencing some struggles with their relationship. This has been largely attributed to anger and frustrations in the relationship. Much of the efforts for the couple have been focused on the differences rather than the similarities as was in the romance stage. They also spend a lot of their efforts and time trying to change each other to no avail.
This is a common trend at this stage in most relationships and it is also a stage that defines the relationship in terms of moving forward and finding balance. Most couples breakup at this stage, where one of the spouse pulls away and needs space while the other chases after them helplessly looking to feel the emotional void left behind. According to the strength based theory, the strengths of a person are the same one that help them to go through various life decisions and overcome their struggles (Smith, n.d.). In this case, the two have masked their strengths by exaggerating their weaknesses and this is affecting their power balance (Smith, n.d.). They have been focusing on the negative element of the relationship other than focus on what they first saw in each other. This was the main drive in the romance stage and is slowly waning away (Muzik, 2012). In this case, Ann has been pulling away from the relationship while Mike has been the one that has been endlessly been trying to get the relationship on track again. Much of his efforts however, can be related trying to fill the emotional void left by the compassion that existed.
One of the main interventions that is going to help the couple regain their status and bring an end to the power struggle is through using the adaptability and functionality in the strength based theory. This means that the couple works through the situation by creating element of au...