The relationship analogy is that human relationships develop like an average person does. Like human birth, the birth of a relationship consists mainly of an electric connection with energetic, emotional, and physical aspects for both participants. Like human development then, relationship development may reach the same impasses. For example, a main impasse in early infancy […]

Stan Tatkin has created a courtship analogy using rockets. It has three stages, beginning at the rocket booster and moving up to the tip, in which the courtship is on its way to a mature and loving relationship. The booster phase is the drug phase, where both partners are high on dopamine, noradrenaline, oxytocin, vasopressin,

Repetition compulsion is an idea from pschoanalytic theory that describes a tendency to repeat patterns in relationships that are unconsciously similar to a childhood relationship or experience. Some people might wonder how something like this happens, and an easy example is the offspring of narcissistic parents who may wonder how they can make someone love

In this article, RelationshipsWork.com explores some ideas about how to sustain the connection that forms so rapidly with the chemistry and attraction from the beginning of a relationship after that newness fades. The key is to recognize that the connection won’t just last on its own and needs to be consciously nurtured and fed. Once

There is a distinction between infidelity and unfaithfulness. Infidelity is actual cheating, and unfaithfulness can be viewed that way as well, but it can also be something as simple as wishing you were out of the relationship or that your partner wasn’t your partner. Unfaithfulness can also include becoming guarded from your partner in a

As with many things things that you experience constantly over an extended period of time, it can be easy to get in a habit of tuning out your spouse. This can lead to one partner feeling like they can’t talk to the other because they won’t be heard or avoiding certain topics that they want

Great marriages are most commonly experienced by couples who have made the decision to grow with their marriage. In order to make a relationship last, it is important for both partners to continue to grow as individuals. This individual growth from each person will grow the marriage as well and transform it from where it

The goal of collaborative therapy is to achieve moments of intimacy by having both partners confide feelings that will create a sense of intense connection. This happens when each partner confides the thing that is most on their mind and then feels like they are understood. This is not the only way to create feelings

Love is great. It can provide energy, help us through sickness and other uncomfortable situations, and even offer inspiration towards creative endeavors. Love can’t, however, accomplish the practical drudgeries of daily life like paying bills or curing addictions. It is important to realize what love can and can’t accomplish and to realize that it takes

In the early stages of a relationship, many couples may not care to make the distinction between themselves and their partner in the pleasure and rush of sharing everything together. However, as a committed relationship continues toward a long-term path, it is not uncommon to start looking critically at a partner as your lives merge