From a Gestalt and Emotionally Focused Therapy perspective, relational distress can be seen not as a trap in which we’re bound to our past hurts, but as a powerful opportunity to reclaim and integrate parts of ourselves that have felt fragmented or disowned. In this view, the tension that arises in relationships is an invitation to become fully aware of our own experience in the present moment and to explore the vulnerable emotions beneath the surface.Rather than focusing on “what’s wrong” or “u