Relationships

Five Steps to Make Your Spouse Your Best Friend Couples Counseling Tips: Fiery romance born from physical attraction is the basis of many engagements and marriages. But stop and think about it: What attributes describe best friend relationships? Honest and open communication, trust, acceptance, support, affirmation, empathy, and enthusiasm for…

Couples Counseling: New Parents Guide to Maintaining a Strong Relationship As a new parent, you are likely to face an inundation of parenting advice, most of it unwelcomed. The best parenting and child development a baby could hope for would be a healthy, happy relationship between the parents and it doesn’t…

PAIR Couple Inventory (About $50.00) David H. Olson & Mark T. Schaefer Couples Counseling: The PAIR (Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships) Inventory is a 36 item instrument that assesses five types of intimacy: emotional, social, sexual, intellectual, and recreational. It enables a person to describe their own relationship as…

Tips on Fighting Emotional Blackmail Emotional blackmail is an issue far more commonplace than people realize. It is defined as someone preying upon the emotions and sensibilities of another for personal gain, rather than external data. This form of extortion usually occurs within close relationships (fathers and sons, mothers and…

Is it harder to find friends as an Adult? A new york times article suggests, it might be. In lieu of making BFFs, after their college years, many individuals are settling for KOFs … that is, kind of friends. Worse yet, for many persons, once they leave the dorm, friends…

Thriveworks counselors help thousands of couples improve their relationships every year. Working with couples on such a regular basis, it is not unusual for us to receive phone calls from couples where one partner is reluctant. Sometimes this is because the partner doesn’t believe in counseling. Sometimes a partner is…

The Internet provides many opportunities for creating new relationships through social networking and online dating. However, some websites may be just as effective at destroying relationships. Below are the top 10 websites that can contribute to relationship problems, distress, and sometimes relationship crisis. For some couples, Internet use is a…

An APA (American Psychological Association) Study recently addressed the question of whether marriage helps or hinders the health of women. This is what was found. The study, involving middle-aged women over a 13-year period. Results indicate that women in marriages characterized by high levels of satisfaction showed a health advantage…

A Harvard University Study, published by the  Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2005; 59:56-62), looked at the question “Is Marriage Good for Men?” Here were the results: The effects of marriage termination were observed, whether through death of a wife or divorce, and remarriage on more than 40,000 men…

Is Marriage Good for you Health? Recent authoritative surveys and Research studies show interested data about Marriage and Health. According to the: National Center for Health Statistics: A report based on a survey of 127,545 people (in 1999-2002) conducted by the center, a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control…

It’s amazing to me the number of people I’ve come across both personally and professionally that are in search of “the perfect mate.” If not in search of, definitely ponderous about the whole notion, and how a current partnership compares to the ideal. The following are some ideas to help…