Gottman Couples Therapy is designed to enhance communication, understanding, intimacy, and friendship between partners. This is accomplished by teaching each partner to become more aware of their real needs and desires and to communicate those to each other in a respectful way, rather than just expecting your partner to know what you want or need, or reacting defensively to each another. The Gottman approach is also effective at helping couples work through issues that they feel gridlocked on, where compromise doesn't seem possible.