Familiarity is one of the most powerful forces in partner selection, and it does not discriminate between healthy and unhealthy dynamics. The nervous system is wired to seek what it recognizes, and what it recognizes is whatever it was exposed to most consistently during the formative years. A dynamic that is objectively harmful can feel subjectively right because it matches the internal template. Conversely, a dynamic that is healthy and stable can feel subjectively wrong because it does not match. This mismatch between what is good for the person and what feels right to the person is at the core of the wrong-partner pattern.
Dr. David Steinbok works with patients in the Boynton Beach, Florida area who are experiencing this mismatch. His psychodynamic approach helps patients understand the pull of familiarity without being controlled by it. The therapeutic relationship itself provides an experience of relational consistency that may differ from what the patient's template predicts, and that difference is part of what makes change possible over time.
