Witnessing this process among the couples I have treated, and on examining my own life
experience (in part, to generate examples of such processes for graduate students in my family
systems class), I have become increasingly aware of how projections and splitting are prevalent
in my own couple relationship. One of my favorite examples revolves around discussions with
my wife about vacations. For years, whenever we planned a vacation, we would have the same
conversation: I would advocate for doing something rugged, such as sleeping in tents. She, on
the other hand, would take the position that we should just find a place to sit back and relax
after the rigors of our two work schedules.