Dawn Laven (not her real name) and her husband have had sex maybe twice in 10 years. She blames the most recent drought on the discomforts of menopause, but the spark left her 27-year marriage long before that. “We’re just friends, roommates, people who do life together,” Laven says. “There’s…
You text your partner after another rough day, hoping for a little reassurance, only to be met with silence. Meanwhile, they’re feeling overwhelmed, unsure how to respond without being pulled into a conversation they don’t feel equipped to handle. This push-pull dance is the hallmark of an anxious-avoidant attachment relationship,…
Healthy relationships have the power to bring joy, connection, and improved self-esteem. However, anxiety can disrupt those feelings and take a toll, both on the person experiencing it and their partner. By understanding the roots of anxiety and its impact on the relationship, couples can create emotional safety and develop…
Childhood trauma can cast a long shadow over a person’s life, affecting how you connect with others well into adulthood. It can make it difficult to navigate conflict, develop an effective communication style, build trust, and overcome fears of vulnerability. If early traumatic experiences are affecting your adult relationships, it’s…
We all get jealous occasionally—but retroactive jealousy can make someone start obsessing over their partner’s romantic past. Retroactive jealousy, also known as Rebecca syndrome, can be so intense that it can derail a person’s relationship, mental health, and ability to trust others. Although this type of relationship anxiety can warp…
Infidelity, or cheating, is one of the leading causes of relationship strain—with more than 60% of divorced couples citing infidelity as a reason for their divorce [1]. Engaging in physical or emotional intimacy with someone outside the relationship can breach trust and cause sometimes irreparable damage to a relationship’s foundation….
One of the hardest parts of therapy can be reckoning with our emotions. Emotions affect all of us, but sometimes focusing on the ones that feel good can cause us to avoid the ones that feel worse. However, though not all emotions feel good at first, it can help to…
Self-sabotage in relationships involves engaging in self-destructive patterns of behavior—whether unconsciously or consciously—which threaten to end a romantic relationship. This may involve distancing yourself, ignoring your partner, or putting emotional walls up. Often, self-sabotaging is related to past experiences or trauma. Self-sabotage can harm or even end relationships that would…
Despite what it sounds like, sleep divorce doesn’t always spell the end of a relationship. It’s what happens when one or both partners decide to sleep in separate beds. As controversial as it sounds, it’s actually pretty common. But does sleep divorce truly spell the end of a relationship? And…
Male hypoactive sexual desire disorder (MHSDD) is a sexual disorder that affects individuals who were assigned as male at birth. This mental health condition severely reduces a man’s desire for sex—he may experience difficulty in being physically intimate with a partner, or may struggle to become aroused by erotic images…
Q: My girlfriend of three years is starting to bother me. We’ve had our share of ups and downs, but we’ve always managed to talk things through whenever there’s been a disagreement. Except for one issue: She doesn’t trust me when I’m out and about with other people, specifically my…
Most guides to defining healthy relationship boundaries focus on new couples. How do you set your personal rules of engagement from the beginning so both partners feel safe and respected? But people in long-term relationships know that love is dynamic. Humans continually grow and change both as individuals and as…
