How can we become better listeners? Why do marriages end? What is the difference between feeling felt vs. feeling understood? What are the gender difference when it comes to emotional intimacy? How do you properly respond to your partner’s emotions? Why don’t we understand how powerful disappointment can be in our lives?

Dr. Mark Goulston, psychiatrist and author, joins us on the SuperAge podcast to share his insights on these questions. Dr. Mark Goulston dropped out of medical school twice due to depression. After a school counselor believed in him and gave him a second chance, he finished medical school and wanted pay forward what that counselor gave him for his future patients. That is exactly what he is doing with his current practice. From marriages to eating disorders to strained parent-child relationships to suicide, Dr. Goulston uses his empathetic personality and ability to listen to navigate these issues with his patients.

What you will learn in this episode:

How empathy and the ability to listen can help strengthen our relationships
Why some marriages end
Why strong personalities may have a more difficult time with emotionally intimate relationships, and how to overcome that
The power of feeling felt vs. feeling understood
How to respond to your partner’s emotions

“Marriages don’t end because we stop loving each other, but because we stop feeling liked by each other.”

“Alpha energy is great for success. It’s not good for closeness. You know, it’s good to have alpha energy. You can build something, you can build a business, you can grow it, you can sell it, you can do whatever, but it’s not that good for emotional intimacy.”

“One of the reasons women will say ‘Don’t give me advice or solutions’ is because when they’re sharing something, they want to just feel less alone in the feeling, they want to feel felt by you, because if they feel felt by you, their oxytocin goes up, their cortisol goes down, their blood flow goes up to their brain, and then they can give themselves the advice they need.”

Listen to the SuperAge podcast wherever you get your pods.

Connect with Dr. Mark Goulston:

Website - https://markgoulston.com

Instagram - https://instagram.com/markgoulston?utm_medium=copy_link

Twitter - https://twitter.com/markgoulston?s=11

Read one Dr. Goulston’s best-selling book - Just Listen

Listen to Dr. Goulston’s audio course - Defeating Self-Defeat https://www.himalaya.com/courses/defeating-self-defeat-3129841?partner-from=15652260&utm_source=partner&utm_medium=mark_goulston

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