Maintaining a relationship over time requires the ability to tolerate discomfort within the relationship without exiting. Disagreements have to be survived. Periods of distance have to be endured without interpreting them as the end. The other person's flaws have to be accepted without either ignoring them or using them as justification to leave. A person whose emotional tolerance for relational discomfort is low will find that every relationship reaches a point where the discomfort exceeds what they can handle, and the relationship ends. The problem is not the specific discomfort. It is the person's capacity to sit with it.
Dr. David Steinbok works with patients from the Deerfield Beach, Florida area whose limited emotional tolerance is contributing to their inability to sustain connections. As a therapist who understands why people cannot maintain relationships, his psychodynamic approach builds emotional tolerance gradually within the therapeutic relationship, where discomfort can be experienced and processed rather than fled from.
