COUPLES & MARRIAGE ARTICLES
Premarital Counseling: Why It’s Important and What to Expect
Getting engaged can be one of the happiest moments in your life. You finally found your soulmate and now you are planning on spending the rest of your life together. While you may feel like everything is perfect, it is important to remember that marriage is an enormous commitment that requires effort and attention every day. One excellent tool that can help you prepare for a long-lasting and healthy marriage is premarital counseling. Happier marriages last longer, and research has shown that participating in premarital counseling can help reduce your risk of divorce by up to 30%!
Approaches to Couples Therapy
Do you experience your partner as not listening? Glued to social media? Annoying? What about arguments that start over the smallest things? Or the intimacy that isn’t like it once was? Do you sleep in separate rooms? Are you repeating an argument over and over again with no resolution? You may benefit from couples counseling.
Combatting Marital Boredom
There are four seasons in a relationship and the first is always summer. The beginning of a relationship is usually characterized by excitement and exhilaration. This is the season where couples are enamored with each other and oftentimes inseparable. There is what most people describe as a “spark” — there’s warmth, joy, fun, and spontaneity in the relationship.
But Is It Really Cheating? Breaches of Trust in Today’s Relationships
Social media, websites like OnlyFans and other subscription sites have impacted many couples’ relationships. Some of these sites involve subscribing to specific creators or models, “sugaring” (typically monetarily providing for a younger, attractive person), or camming (watching people perform sexually via webcam).
Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
Maybe you’ve been there, or maybe you’ve heard about it from a friend, or could all too easily imagine it: sitting in the therapist’s office with your partner, one of you desperately wanting to save the marriage and the other person… not. Not committing to the marriage, not committing to the therapy work, but also not asking for a divorce.
How to Successfully Manage the Challenges of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in Marital Relationships
The divorce rate in marriages with one spouse diagnosed with AD/HD is approximately 85%. This condition brings a special set of challenges to a marriage. Frequent complaints include: “I can’t depend on him/her for anything; she doesn’t listen; he doesn’t follow through on anything; she forgets things.”
Managing Your Budget and Your Marriage
The current economic deficit has placed a significant strain on our wallets, our jobs, but most importantly, our relationships. Divorce rates are an unsettling 51% today, which means half of all marriages are ending in separation. What is even more disturbing is that out of the couples getting divorced, approximately 80% of them attribute their failed marriage to disputes over finances. While these statistics may seem daunting,
7 Ways To Get More Sex
Dissatisfaction with the amount of sex in their relationship is a common problem that comes up in marriages and other long term intimate relationships. It is a commonly seen problem in couple’s therapy, probably because when there are problems in the relationship, amount of sex tends to decline. However, it’s important to point out lack of sex does not always mean there are other problems in the relationship.
The Best Valentine’s Day Gift to Your RelationshipSince Valentine’s Day is approaching, couples could consider giving each other the “gift” of improving their relationship with time. It is so important for couples to spend time together having fun, which will nurture the relationship.
How to Talk to Your Partner with Different Political Views
Every couple experiences differences in some aspect of their relationship: differences in daily routines, food preferences, personality traits, etc. Most couples find their way to work around or accept these issues, but what about when it comes to politics? This article discusses strategies for effectively communicating with your partner when you disagree on politics.
Sex in Long-Term Marriage and Relationships: Is Your Sex Life on the Rocks?
So you’ve been married for many years, maybe you’ve had children, one or both of you work full-time, life is busy, schedules are hectic…where in the world do you find time for romantic sex? This article discusses sexual intimacy as an important aspect of a healthy and satisfying partnership.
Deepen Your Relationships with 5 Questions
It is a challenge understanding every aspect of one’s own culture and background, let alone someone else’s. Yet it behooves couples to understand how each other’s upbringing has shaped their lifestyle, worldview, and decision-making. This article highlights 5 questions each partner can consider and then share the answers with their partner.
Phone Apps for Couples
Smartphones don’t have to have negative consequences on a relationship. Many app developers have realized the potential to positively impact planning, intimacy and connection. A sampling of the most helpful smartphone apps is provided in this article.
Conflict Skills for Relationships (Or, How To Stay On The Team)
Conflict is part of every intimate relationship. Some issues are perpetual problems but they don’t have to cause so many conflicts. This article address three specific skills that can help you work together and stay on the team.
Financial Health Advice From a Leading Expert
An interview with Haleh Moddasser of Stearns Financial Services Group (offices in Chapel Hill and Greensboro, serving clients across the U.S.). Featured in Forbes magazine several times, Stearns Financial was selected by Goldline Research as one of the Leading Wealth Managers of the U.S. for 2009, 2010, and 2011. Halah (pronounced ‘Holly’) is the Vice President of the Triangle office in Chapel Hill.
How To Tell Your Spouse You Have Had An Affair
Here we outline important things to consider when preparing to tell your spouse you have been unfaithful. We talk about if, when, and how to break this difficult news, and also offer straightforward suggestions on how to avoid doing further damage to your marriage.
Can Anything Positive Come Out Of An Affair?
In this article we describe the impact that an affair can have on a marriage. Along with providing possible reasons such as sexual dissatisfaction at home, emotional disconnection from your spouse and altering life events like having children, we also mention common reactions that spouses may have. Amidst an affair, we describe ways to overcome them in order to save your marriage and demonstrate that the healing process of an affair can be an opportunity to deepen your relationship, improve communication with your spouse, and understand the dynamics of your relationship better.
The Suspicion is Killing Me
Here we discuss how to cope with suspicion of infidelity in your relationship, why it might be that you feel suspicious, that suspicion is not always a harmful feeling, and how to talk to about it with your partner.
Balancing Children and Your Marriage
In this article we look at how having children can negatively impact one’s relationship with their spouse, and offer tips on how to avoid problems within the marriage as a result of family and financial responsibilities. We discuss how taking some time out for one another, creating a routine that the whole family will enjoy, and finding ways to co-parent together can increase marital happiness while raising your children.
Ready to Spice Up Your Sex Life?
Dr. Colette Segalla looks at common challenges in long term marriages to maintaining a healthy and happy sex life. She identifies common patterns in the decline of sex in a marriage and how to shift those patterns for a revitalized and satisfying sex life.
Keeping May-December Romance in Season
Dr. Colette Segalla discusses the ups and downs of age difference in marriage. Marriages between two people with a significant age difference often bring their own challenges that, when recognized, can be dealt with effectively. Colette also discusses the benefits of age-difference marriages and how to allow those benefits to strengthen the partnership.
Dealing with Your Partner’s Depression
In this article we look at the effects of depression on a marriage and how to deal with those effects. We explore how to recognize the symptoms of depression and what can be done to treat the depression in the individual and in the marriage. Lastly, important steps are outlined to take in order for couples to remain supportive of one another and for the relationship to stay viable when depression occurs in a marriage.
Disaster-Proof Your Relationship
All relationships go through rough patches from time to time, especially during periods of stress. Read about signs that indicate that your relationship is on the rocks and tips on how to keep your relationship afloat.
The Keys to Relationship Fulfillment
In this article, we discuss seven principles that can help you feel more fulfilled in your marriage. Learn how to increase your level of satisfaction with your partner through implementing these principles into your marriage.
Your Love Language
We address the five love languages people use to express their feelings to one another. Learn about what love language you use and how to communicate to your partner that you understand how they like to be loved.
Relationship Success: 3 Quick Tips to Improve Your Relationship
Learn three minor things you can do to improve your relationship in a major way.