A man who cannot open up emotionally creates a specific kind of strain in a marriage or long-term partnership. The partner feels shut out, lonely inside the relationship, and increasingly frustrated by the sense that they are living with someone they do not truly know. The man, for his part, often feels confused by the complaint. He is present. He is reliable. He is faithful. He does not understand what more is being asked of him because what is being asked, emotional vulnerability, is precisely the thing he has spent his life learning to withhold.
For couples in the Deerfield Beach, Florida area where emotional guardedness has become a source of marital strain, individual therapy for the man is often a necessary first step. Dr. David Steinbok provides a space where the man can begin to examine his emotional guardedness without the pressure of a partner's expectations in the room. A therapist for men who cannot open up helps the man understand the guardedness on his own terms before he attempts to lower it within the marriage.
