Sexual stereotypes are everywhere. We see them in commercials, where happy moms dance around their homes in celebration of a functional mop. We see them in movies, where stoic male heroes are still rescuing clueless heroines. We see them on sitcoms, where single women dream of getting their boyfriends to settle down, and lazy husbands just want to watch sports. It’s true that in recent years we’ve made advances to establish equality between the sexes. Society is reflecting fewer attitudes that support discrimination and inequality between men and women, and most of us espouse a point of view that is liberated from old sexual prejudices that once bordered on racial bigotry. However,... read more ...

The to-do list associated with Valentine’s Day typically involves flower orders, dinner reservations, and chocolate deliveries. All of these can be lovely gestures of fondness and appreciation, but all of them are fleeting symbols whose pleasures fade come February 15. The greatest and most lasting gift we can give a loved one is to be open to evolving as a person and improving our relationship. So why not use a holiday that celebrates love as an opportunity to think about how we can make ours stronger? In working with couples, there are six principles I often cite as proven methods to maintain closeness and keep the excitement alive in a relationship. Conveniently, these six characteristics... read more ...

As a therapist, I often hear couples complain that whenever one partner tries to get close, the other pulls away. It’s a painful reality that love isn’t always as easy to give and receive as we’d like to think. Many people have developed defenses that make them intolerant of too much love, attention or affection. Our personal limitations and insecurities are regularly acted out in our closest relationships. Very often, our current reactions (especially our overreactions) are based on negative programming from our past. In the blog “Why You Keep Winding Up in the Same Relationship,” I discussed how and why we form defenses that make it difficult to get close. In... read more ...