Stuti Gokhale
Showtime’s ‘Couples Therapy‘ is a unique reality TV series that features couples married for varying lengths of time trying to work on their relationship problems. In a documentary style, each episode authentically chronicles their therapy sessions with acclaimed psychologist Dr. Orna Guralnik. Structurally, she helps them identify the root causes of their conflicts and find practical solutions to communicate better.
Since the show first premiered in September 2019, the couples who appear each season have kept viewers invested in tracking their progress. One such interesting couple that received a lot of love from everyone is Elaine and DeSean, who came to Dr. Guralnik in season 1. Now, if you’re curious to know how they both are doing presently, here’s everything we can tell you.
Elaine and DeSean’s Couples Therapy Journey
Married for 11 years, Elaine and DeSean described themselves to Dr. Guralnik as polar opposites who fell in love. As per Elaine, her husband calmed her noise, while she woke him up. However, after so many years of togetherness, they began feeling misunderstood by each other and had difficulties voicing their needs. Not just that, DeSean felt suppressed by Elaine’s anger and said that she would shout at him for every small thing. She, on the other hand, felt ignored by him and shared that he prioritized work over her desire to spend more time together.
Elaine told Dr. Guralnik that DeSean would avoid her phone calls at work, to which he responded by saying that she often called him incessantly, around 20 times a day. He further elaborated that Elaine would get overly anxious and confront him aggressively when he would not answer her calls. In addition, DeSean stated that no matter how many efforts he made, she would feel unsatisfied with them and point out his mistakes. Throughout the next few sessions, Dr. Guralnik aided Elaine in discovering that the reasons for her extreme anxiety and mistrust of her spouse had their origins in her past.
Elaine had a highly abusive boyfriend before she met DeSean, and the trauma from that relationship had seeped into their marriage. Moreover, the latter conveyed his wife’s lack of understanding of his fears and bad experiences as a person of color. Being an African American, DeSean sometimes felt threatened in his surroundings and discriminated against when they went dining at high-end places together. While Elaine brushed it off as his lack of confidence, Dr. Guralnik explained to her that it was important to validate his feelings so that he felt safe.
As their sessions began nearing their end, Elaine and DeSean realized they needed to work through their past insecurities and pain, to move forward together. She acknowledged that she had to learn to trust her husband and let him pull her out of her traumatic history into a secure present. Furthermore, DeSean accepted that he had to be more receptive to Elaine’s feelings and be more vocal about his needs as well. The couple concluded that their time with Dr. Guralnik had helped strengthen their relationship and made them more united to face challenges.
Are Elaine and DeSean Still Together?
When Elaine and DeSean came on ‘Couples Therapy,’ they had requested a bit of anonymity despite putting out their story to the public. To respect their wish, details about their background have been kept under wraps. Apart from that, they also don’t seem to have a social media presence and prefer living away from the limelight. Last we know, they appeared on ‘The COVID Special’ episode of the show in December 2020 and were still going strong.
As revealed on the special, the couple had shifted to Florida, and Elaine was grappling with some trust issues. Through a video call, Elaine shared with Dr. Guralnik that she was upset over some texts her husband had allegedly sent to a woman. Moreover, following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, a wave of fear had swept over the African American community regarding rampant hate crimes.
The socio-political situation had deeply affected DeSean as well, and he had become skeptical about sharing his feelings with anyone. As per Elaine and DeSean’s account on the show, the husband and wife’s determination to save their marriage is much deeper than their troubles. Thus, we can only hope that they have been able to work through their conflicts and remain happily together.
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