Couples

People get married for many reasons, such as love or even for convenience. Yet, I’ve never heard of anyone getting married to improve their physical health. But, maybe they should. Recent research from the University of California has discovered that cancer patients who are married are more likely to survive than those who were not […]

Quick!  Think of one habit or activity couples do together that connected with making relationships last. Most people would come up with going out on regular date nights or having a healthy and frequent sex life. These couldn’t hurt, and there are hundreds of thousands of studies out there about how to make relationships last.

It has generally been a common perception that, as couples age, they can become more cantankerous with others, including their partners. Some research suggests that emotions become subdued too. However, new research sees something different. A second honeymoon phenomenon occurs as couples get older.  Also, previous, unpleasant emotions, from earlier in the relationship, begin to

There are literally thousands of articles online about how to rediscover the passion in your relationship. In addition, there are also many posts about how you can reestablish the sexual chemistry that you once had at the start of your relationship. Everybody has their own opinion on each topic, with countless different recommendations.   It

Long-distance relationships are relatively common. Recent data shows that about 3 million people in the United States are in a relationship but live apart from each other. This statistic reflects those couples that live apart for reasons that are not due to relationship distress. Typically, geographic demands connected to one’s job, career, or school are

There are an endless amount of jokes about how sex ends after marriage, or really any relationship that continues beyond the honeymoon phase. Despite these jokes, they actually do reflect some degree of truth for many relationships. Any relationship that has very little to no sex-life can really struggle. This is known as a sexless

Problems in relationships can take many forms. Sometimes partners avoid confrontation with the belief that conflict only causes more problems. Although this avoidance strategy is not particularly helpful and can lead to significant problems if not corrected, it’s also not a completely destructive problem that can’t be corrected. Clearly, this type of couple needs to

Typically, after the honeymoon phase ends in most relationships couples fall into a rut. Thus, the $10 million question is: how do couples get back that spark they once had? Most commonly, typical answers involve consistently spending lots of one-on-one time together. The idea being that more date nights leads to more intimacy. However, some

When couples walk into my office I often talk about the importance of improving communication skills in order to help work through various issues. These can range from sex life problems to resolving parenting style differences. The issue that couples bring up much less often in session is how to establish a greater emotional connection

John Gottman’s research has helped him to identify what he calls “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” in relationships. These refer to four behaviors in a relationship that ultimately spell doom and that the end is near in one’s relationship. These four behaviors are criticism, contempt, stonewalling, and defensiveness. Defensiveness occurs when one partner starts resisting