Do you believe in love languages?

Have you ever been asked what's your love language?

This has become a popular question in contemporary society, as common as someone asking 'what's your star sign?'. 

There are five love languages: acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, words of affirmation and physical touch.

And understanding each other’s love languages is vital to knowing your partner and to help strengthen relationships.

Resident clinical psychologist, Dr Khosi Jiyane interrogates the concept of the five love languages, which describe five ways that people receive and express love in a relationship.

"Love languages serve as a lens, vocabulary or a construct we can draw on in order to read patterns of inclination within ourselves and others. It shows we are all wired in universal ways, but singularly unique ways as well. It allows us to tap into each person's code and to be intentional with how we act and maximise the benefits of our efforts in what we say and do."
-Dr Khosi Jiyane, Resident Clinical Psychologist

Love languages are an important indicator of the absence or presence of a certain need or desire.

"They will not speak to anyone at all times. At certain times, some will be more amplified than others because of particular circumstances or because of wants, needs and desires that supersede others."
-Dr Khosi Jiyane, Resident Clinical Psychologist

The important benefit of love languages is that it allows people to step out of themselves.

"Love languages invites us to consider how does it look from the other person's perspective. Does it land the same way for me? So it increases our empathy." 

-Dr Khosi Jiyane, Resident Clinical Psychologist

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