A couple presents for therapy after 12 years of marriage. The wife describes feeling increasingly lonely and criticizes her husband for being emotionally unavailable. The husband reports feeling constantly attacked and responds by withdrawing into work and silence. The therapist identifies this as a pursue-withdraw cycle and helps each partner access and express the vulnerable emotions underlying their surface-level positions. The wife acknowledges fear of abandonment beneath her criticism, and the husband identifies shame and inadequacy beneath his withdrawal. The therapist facilitates a new interaction in which each partner expresses these softer emotions directly to the other.