About this episode

Ellen Dorian explores the complexities of trust in long-term relationships and identifies seven domains that affect it.

In this episode of Make More Love, Ellen takes on one of the most misunderstood issues in long-term relationships: trust. Most people think about trust in terms of the obvious violations — betrayal, secrets, lies, and affairs. But trust can also erode through the repeated daily letdowns that make a partner feel unsafe, uninformed, dismissed, unsupported, or unable to rely on the relationship. Ellen breaks trust down into seven practical domains: Safety, Security, Caring, Integrity, Fidelity, Reliability, and Repair. Because if you want to rebuild trust, you first have to know where it is breaking down. Part 1: The Trust Deficit In the Big Picture Ellen opens by looking at the larger “trust deficit” we see in society and connects it to what happens inside many business-owner marriages. A trust deficit is not always caused by one major betrayal. It can also build slowly when one partner’s need to feel safe, connected, informed, and secure is not consistently being met. She also explains why many business owners feel confused when their partner does not experience them as trustworthy, especially when they have avoided what Ellen calls the Fatal Four: betrayal, secrets, lies, and…

More episodes of Make More Love

• 83: What’s Your Trust Archetype? How to Build a High-Trust Relationship · July 9, 2026 · 21 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Make More Love podcast page.