Earlier this summer I started a blog series about hypocrisy in couples therapy. I was pleased to see so many of you respond on the blog sharing your own examples of these vexing moments and examples of hypocritical binds from your practice.

I promised some follow-up. So here it is.

Many of the partners we see in couples work have early developmental issues that move them to create binds for each other. Four common developmental issues are:

1. Basic trust. When basic trust is missing, partners fear they are not loveable. They become afraid when their lovers are absent or withdrawn and often create binds that demand their lovers prove them unconditionally loveable.
2. Problems with self-other differentiation. These partners desire highly merged relationships and angrily or more subtly create binds to coerce their partners to comply.
3. Limited ability to self-soothe. These partners often demand “mind reading,” stay agitated and make unflattering decisions about the other.
4. Difficulty with self-activation. All partners who create hypocritical binds have difficulty in this area. The bind in fact includes a rationalization for them not to take action.

These developmental issues also contribute to partners having difficulty knowing what they desire, activating positive energy to pursue desires, and raging at partners who seem to “get more of their desires realized.” What’s even worse is that these developmental issues fuel the creation of binds, hypocrisies and paradoxes that inhibit the long-term growth and development of the relationship.

The tragedy, of course, is that both partners lose out on the promise that brought them together.

To get us into this topic more deeply, I’ve prepared a short video reviewing the information from the original blog post and discussing 4 common types of hypocrisy, with examples of each.

We hope that you’ll give this topic some thought and comment on the blog about whether you see these four types of hypocrisy.

During the next month I will follow up with some short emails continuing this discussion.

“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.”
― Warren W. Wiersbe