--:-- Shamita Basu: Hey there, it's Shamita here. As you might know, along with hosting Apple News today, I'm also the host of our weekly interview podcast, Apple News in Conversation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The show is such a grab bag of topics. I talk to journalists and experts about all kinds of stories that get people talking.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Our latest episode is all about couples therapy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, couples who end up on the couch together in a therapist's office will often give a reason why they're there. Infidelity, fights. We are here to solve this problem.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But a good couples therapist will tell you every couple can stand to learn something from going to therapy together.
--:-- Shamita Basu: People often have a preliminary kind of anxiety about getting to know more about themselves or about their partner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But when it really happens, it's a very meaningful, gratifying experience.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Dr. Orna Guralnik. She's a psychoanalyst, which means she pays particularly close attention to a person's internal world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: How past experiences may be unconsciously impacting or motivating them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Those are those aha moments that we look for both in individual and in couples work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like, oh my God, now I understand something that I had like some feeling about.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There was a hunch. But, oh, now it makes sense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What's different is she's doing this kind of inner world work in an office rigged with cameras.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the main setting we see in the Showtime series called Couples Therapy, which follows several real couples as they hash out their conflicts their traumas their anxieties with Orna as their guide.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here an exchange between a couple and Orna from the show.
--:-- [Audio clip of the show plays]
--:-- Shamita Basu: She wants to talk about her feelings?
--:-- Shamita Basu: By all means. But we're like, what are we talking about, particulars?
--:-- Shamita Basu: No. Why not?
--:-- Shamita Basu: What's the problem with letting it unfold here so I can understand what the two of you are struggling with?
--:-- Shamita Basu: I should say I have watched every single episode of this show with my husband.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you've seen it too, you'll know that there is something really gripping about watching Orna work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The way that she gently prompts people to examine their instincts, to listen to their partners, and to do some really hard self-discovery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Things can get pretty intense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as a viewer, it makes you appreciate how challenging relationships can be.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And how much effort people are willing to put in when they really care about the other person.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the same time, though, and Orna will be the first person to tell you this, success in couples therapy does not necessarily mean staying together.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Generally, if the couple wants to stay together, I will try to help them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But the conditions of staying together should include a real capacity to love each other.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I mean, if loving each other includes, like, not staying together, because that is a more loving thing to do, I will support that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New episodes of Season 3 of Couples Therapy are out this week, and my full conversation with Orna is out too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To hear the episode, search for Apple News In Conversation in the podcast app.
