"The office saved us" illusion [and we divorced]

Welcome to Dr Sarah: Relationship Success Lab, where high achievers, executives, and entrepreneurs explore relationship fitness, healing from relationship trauma, and creating secure, trusting, and loving partnerships. Designed for those navigating high-stakes careers and relationships, we dive into trauma-informed coaching, relationship wellbeing, and practical strategies to recover from trauma bonding and build meaningful connections. Save your marriage, start building secure relationships and optimizing your relationship wellbeing.

You may think diving into 'doing more' and being a 'good provider' will save you both.

It doesn't.

Key points covered include:

1. Emotional Disconnect: Highly motivated individuals often focus so much on work that they neglect the emotional connection with their partner, creating a functional but distant relationship. The speaker highlights that this emotional gap can lead to serious issues, citing research from the Gottman Institute, which shows 80% of couples who experience disconnection for over a year end in divorce.
2. Avoidance of Conflict: Many high achievers use work as a way to avoid confronting difficult situations at home. Instead of resolving conflicts, they retreat into their jobs, believing that by working hard, they are indirectly supporting their partner. However, this avoidance worsens the relationship in the long term.
3. False Sense of Stability: Success at work can create a temporary high and a sense of stability. However, this is misleading because the excitement from work isn't genuine emotional connection. Over time, the emotional distance grows, and partners may find themselves feeling like strangers to one another.
4. Long-term Consequences: Emotional distance is a major factor in the breakdown of relationships, and the speaker warns that focusing too much on the functionality of the relationship (e.g., roles like earning money or managing household tasks) without true emotional intimacy can have dire long-term effects.

Support the show

Welcome to Trauma Bonding to Secure Relationships with Dr Sarah — the podcast that helps ambitious individuals and couples heal trauma bonding and toxic relationship cycles to build secure attachments and loving healthy relationships.

Hosted by Dr Sarah, psychologist, relationship strategist, and founder of Heal Trauma Bonding and Relationship Success Lab, this show guides you through practical tools and deep insights on:

✅ Healing from trauma bonding, anxious attachment style, and codependency
✅ Building emotional resilience and secure attachment styles a
✅ Improving communication, empathy, and emotional intimacy
✅ Reclaiming your identity, boundaries, and self-worth
✅ Creating lasting relationship happiness and passion

Whether you're recovering from betrayal, navigating codependency, or simply ready to break free from the past, this podcast gives you the clarity, strength, and strategy to move forward

We hope you got massive value from this episode for your own healing and relationship progress. However if you do want to discuss your situation further, click here https://calendly.com/relationshipsuccesslab-info/discovery-call

LinkedIn: Dr Sarah (Alsawy) Davies

Instagram handle: @dr.sarahalsawy

https://www.healtraumabonding.com

https://www.relationshipsuccesslab.com