Couples therapy for international Lisbon
Moving abroad is one of the great stress tests of a marriage, and the brochures never say so. In Lisbon I see the same pattern again and again, online from my London practice: couples who arrived with the dream intact and found, a year in, that one of them is living it and the other is only accompanying it. The friction lands on money, children, in-laws or time, but those are rarely the real subject. Underneath are the questions every couple carries: recognition, security, power, the fear of being abandoned or engulfed, replayed now on foreign ground where the usual supports are a flight away.
How the work goes
The approach is analytic and Jungian: we work at both levels at once, what is happening between you here and now, and what each of you brings from your own history into the pattern. A neutral, confidential space where what has never been said can finally be said, with a third person trained to hold both sides without taking either. Sessions are in English, in French, or in the mixture bilingual couples actually speak. For what an affair is really saying when that is the crisis, see The Affair as Symptom; for the fear that drives the clinging and the checking, see The Fear of Abandonment.
Practicalities
Sessions are by secure video on Lisbon time, with Dr Philippe Jacquet, Jungian analyst with twenty-five years of experience, from his Harley Street practice in London. In person in London when you travel. A first conversation is confidential and without commitment: book here.
Common questions
Is couples therapy available in English in Lisbon?
Yes: Dr Philippe Jacquet works with international couples in Lisbon and across Portugal online by secure video, in English, in French, and with bilingual couples in a mixture of both.
What do expat couples bring to therapy?
The move itself, very often: one partner chose Portugal more than the other; one has a life here and the other only a view. Add distance from family, the loss of old roles, and the intensity of being each other's whole world, and solid marriages start to strain. This is normal, and it is workable.
What if we are considering separating?
Couples therapy is not a guarantee the relationship survives, and it would be dishonest to promise that. It creates the conditions for both people to understand what is truly happening between them, and then decide with clarity. Sometimes that strengthens the marriage; sometimes it allows a separation with less damage, which matters even more abroad, far from every support.
How do sessions work from Portugal?
By secure video, on Lisbon time, with both partners together (and individual sessions where useful). In-person sessions are possible at Harley Street when you are in London.