12 Week Relationships Podcast

Defensiveness is a common reaction to criticism, where individuals become protective and guarded, perceiving a threat to their self-esteem or sense of identity. It is a natural response when feeling attacked, but if it becomes a habitual pattern, it can damage relationships and hinder personal growth.

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen define defensiveness and discuss how to identify and change this behavior in relationships.

Contempt in relationships is not only destructive, it's the single biggest predictor of relationship failure. It's a pervasive feeling of disrespect, anger, and disapproval that goes beyond just feeling frustrated with your partner.

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen explore the causes of contempt in relationships, the signs that indicate its presence, its effects, and solutions to prevent its spread.

Resentment is the number one indicator of divorce or separation in a relationship. Translation: The stakes are high!

However, beyond the obvious consequence of your relationship ending, there are hidden costs of resentment in a relationship that couples are often not aware of, or do not acknowledge. In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen discuss and answer the question: How do you identify and overcome resentment?

Relationships are a lot like gardens – they require consistent care and attention in order to thrive. We often admire beautiful gardens all while being ignorant or oblivious to the work that it took to create such a garden. Relationships are quite similar, aren't they? Just like that beautiful garden, it’s easy to see the beauty in someone else’s relationship and to want that thing for ourselves. This is where we might fall into the notion of the “grass being greener on the other side.” But the truth follows something more like what Neil Barringham said, “the grass is greener where you water it.”

Whether you’re newly dating or have been together for years, there are steps you can take to cultivate a strong and healthy partnership.

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen provide tips for how to keep your relationship grass wonderfully green. It’s worth noting that we’re going to focus on marriage/partnerships, but most of these tips are going to be applicable to ALL of your long-term relationships.

Stonewalling is a type of communication breakdown that can leave one feeling ignored, unimportant, or even dismissed altogether. Per research by the Gottman Institute, it’s also one of the leading predictors of relationship failure and divorce. While it’s a common relationship problem, it’s important to be aware of its impact in order to address it immediately.

In this episode, Pye & Dr. Glen dive into the different types of stonewalling, how it affects a relationship, and how you can stop it if you find yourself stonewalling or being stonewalled.

What's the number one reason for divorce? According to this famous pastor, it's "immaturity" and the lack of effort.

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen react to Pastor Rick Warren's painfully oversimplified, and frankly, irresponsible, take on divorce and discuss the factors that ACTUALLY contribute to the end of a marriage.

There's a lot of bad advice out there. Most of the time we'd just say, "to each their own." But every now and then a video masqueraded as relationship or marriage advice goes viral. This is one of those examples. Not only has this video amassed millions upon millions of views, but many of the people who watched it agreed with what was being said (which you can see from the comments).

"My husband is my boss" embraces a kind of traditionalism often found in religious environments that might sound crazy to modern and progressive cultures. But given the amount of attention this video has garnered, we felt it deserves an analysis. In this episode, we're going to not only break down the concepts presented by this matchmaker, but we're also going to talk about traditional gender roles within marriage.

They cheated... Should you stay and work it out or end the relationship? Let's take a look at the data on whether a relationship can ACTUALLY be repaired after cheating.

In today's episode, Pye and Dr. Glen dive deep into the stats and discuss the key factors to repairing a relationship and what to look for when deciding whether to stay or move on.

Open relationships have become more and more common, especially among younger generations. But the question is, "do open relationships ACTUALLY work?" From both a science and practical level, are open relationships actually viable, or are they just idealistic and doomed to fail?

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen define an open relationship, discuss why open relationships might be desirable, then go into what's necessary to make an open relationship sustainable long-term. Stick around, because not only will they get into the most common reasons open relationships fail, Pye and Dr. Glen will also be sharing their opinions on open relationships at the end!

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen continue with breaking down 5 MORE pieces of cliché marriage advice and whether they're any good or just pure junk.