How to Hold Hope When Couples Feel Hopeless
When couples enter therapy on the brink of collapse—resentful, shut down, barely speaking—it’s easy for therapists to feel what the couple feels: hopelessness.
But as Drs. John and Julie Gottman remind us in the powerful final chapter of their book, 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, your most important role in these moments may not be delivering the perfect intervention or resolving every conflict. It’s this: Hold the hope.
Why Hope Matters in Couples Therapy
Only a small percentage of couples in serious distress ever make it to therapy. Those who do are often at their lowest point, emotionally exhausted and out of ideas. But the very act of walking into your office is a signal, however faint, that they want something to be different. And that small flicker of willingness is where your hope begins.
As therapists, we have the privilege of seeing something they can’t yet see: their resilience, their strength, and their capacity to heal even from deep betrayal or decades of disconnect. Hope is not a denial of pain. It’s an insistence that transformation is still possible.
The Therapist’s Inner Work: Holding Steady in the Storm
There is an emotional toll couples work can take on the therapist. When you’re working with high-conflict or trauma-burdened couples, especially early in your career, it’s easy to internalize the despair in the room. This is why the chapter centers not on another intervention technique, but on you—the therapist’s internal world.
You are asked to anchor yourself in the belief that humans are capable of extraordinary growth. Even couples who’ve experienced something as extreme as 57 affairs can still recover, if they’re willing to do the work and you’re willing to guide them with courage and compassion.
5 Practical Ways to Instill Hope When Couples Feel Hopeless
The Gottmans offer several strategies for therapists to embed hope throughout the therapeutic process:
1. Start with Strengths
Even in the assessment phase, look for glimmers of positivity. A fond memory, even if buried under years of resentment, is a seed. Highlight it. Let the couple hear you say, “That’s something we can build on.”
2. Normalize the Struggle
Many couples have never been taught how to navigate conflict or connection. Frame their challenges as issues of skill—not character. “Where would you have learned this?” can be a liberating question.
3. Celebrate Small Wins
When a partner shows empathy, shifts their tone, or manages a tough conversation differently—even once—call it out. “Good job. You really can do this.” These affirmations become the couple’s new internal dialogue.
4. Model Fondness and Admiration
By identifying and affirming their efforts in session, you’re not only instilling hope, but you’re also showing them how to see the good in each other again.
5. Use Concrete Visual Tools
John Gottman describes using a whiteboard to list and then “erase” regrettable incidents as couples work through them. This visible act reinforces that the past doesn’t have to dictate the future.
What to Do When Hope Isn’t Enough in Couples Therapy
Sometimes, despite every intervention and all your holding of hope, a couple may still choose to part ways. In those moments, your role shifts from savior to witness. After all, therapy is not about fixing every marriage. It’s about honoring each person’s path. Sometimes the greatest gift you offer is compassionate acceptance of what is.
And still, hope plays a role. Because even if the relationship ends, your support may help each partner walk away with more clarity, self-understanding, and capacity for future connection.
Bringing Hope into the Therapy Room and its Ethical Stance
Holding hope isn’t about blind optimism. It’s a grounded, evidence-informed belief in the possibility of change. It's about reflecting back to couples a version of themselves they may have forgotten—one where healing is possible, connection is repairable, and love can be rebuilt.
So when a couple says, “We don’t think we can make it,” you might gently respond, “You’re not in a lawyer’s office. You’re here. And that means something.”
In the words of the Gottmans: Be the one who holds the hope.
Drs. John and Julie Gottman on the 10 Core Principles for Effective Couples Therapy
John Gottman, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, where he established what the media called, "The Love Lab," and conducted much of his award-winning research on couple interaction and treatment. Dr. Gottman has studied marriage, couples and parent relationships for nearly four decades. He has authored or co-authored 119 published articles as well as 44 books, including: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, The Relationship Cure, Why Marriages Succeed or Fail, and How You Can Make Yours Last, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting, And Baby Makes Three and The Marriage Clinic.
World renown for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction, Dr. Gottman's research has earned him numerous national awards, including: Four five-year-long National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Awards; The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Distinguished Research Scientist Award; The American Psychological Association Division of Family Psychology Presidential Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Research Contribution; The National Council of Family Relations 1994 Burgess Award for Outstanding Career in Theory and Research.
Dr. Gottman, together with his wife, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute, which provides clinical training, workshops, services, and educational materials for mental health professionals, couples, and families. He is also the co-founder and Executive Director of the Relationship Research Institute which has created treatments for couples transitioning to parenthood and couples suffering from minor domestic violence.
Dr. Gottman has presented hundreds of invited keynote addresses, workshops, and scientific presentations, to avid audiences around the world including Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Israel, Turkey, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Norway. A wonderful story-teller and expert, Dr. Gottman has also appeared on many TV shows, including Good Morning America, Today, CBS Morning News, and Oprah, and he has been written up in numerous print articles, including Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Glamour, Woman's Day, Men's Health, People, Self, Reader's Digest, and Psychology Today.
Drs. John and Julie Gottman currently live on Orcas Island, near Seattle, Washington. They conduct weekly and intensive couples therapy sessions, provide small group retreats, teach workshops and clinical trainings and give presentations and training workshops around the world.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. John Gottman is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute and co-founder and Chief Scientist of Gottman, Inc., as well as the Executive Director of the Relationship Research Institute. He receives grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Kirlin Foundation. Dr. Gottman also receives royalties from his published works. Additionally, he receives speaking honoraria, book royalties, and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. John Gottman is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Society National.
