Tribeca Therapy On Avoiding Conflicts During Self-isolation In The New York Post
April 16, 2020
In our NYC online therapy sessions, we’ve, understandably, received a lot of questions about dealing with self-isolating at home. Between the cramped quarters and being home more than ever before, conflicts between people in the home can naturally come up, whether with a couple, parents and school-aged kids, college students who moved back home or roommates. Speaking specifically to the complications and compromises of living together during quarantine, Tribeca Therapy was recently featured in The New York Post’s article on “Coronavirus Etiquette.”
Tribeca Therapy’s Founder and Clinical Director Matt talked to writer Marisa Dellatto about how some conflicts may need to be let go while adhering to stay-at-home orders. However, some things–like paying attention to social distancing–can’t be ignored. As he explains, “People need to say, ‘Sorry, I know you think I’m being unreasonable, but I need to really insist on this…You don’t need to agree on all the nuances of what is and isn’t risky, but you do need to respect me.'”
For other issues that are unrelated to keeping everyone in the house healthy, though, it’s important to compromise, perhaps more so than before COVID-19. And some things may have to be ignored and dealt with later, post-quarantine. Matt observes from his teletherapy and video chat therapy sessions during COVID-19: “People are needing to make concessions to survive.”
In particular, couples are finding that they have to make concessions in their relationships, particularly when both working from home and staying at home in a NYC apartment. For example, one partner may drink too much, but, Matt notes, “I think this is not the moment to be getting in a fight about that.” As he continues, “Maybe you’re learning things about the long-term viability of the relationship, [which should be dealt with] when we’re in a post-pandemic world.”
