New York Times bestselling author Michael Gurian offers a groundbreaking plan for couples seeking to build a healthy relationship, work through past hurts, and create greater intimacy. Become separate from your partner yet also become closer—sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? With twenty-five years of family and marital counseling practice, Michael Gurian shows that “intimate separateness” is the key to creating a healthy partnership in life. Recent university studies show that the most frequent reason relationships dissolve is not abuse, alcoholism, money, or even infidelity, but rather a lack of emotional fulfillment. Most books on love and marriage focus on teaching communication and conflict skills, but neglect to help couples with the “other half” of intimacy—separateness. In this practical yet personal guide to love, Gurian details the benefits of creating a lifelong balance of closeness and separateness. He outlines a twelve-stage model created for his own private practice, which provides long-term goals and focal points for dialogue that can help couples work through arguments. Gurian also delves into differences in white and gray matter between the male and female brain (which may explain the varying needs for intimacy and separateness), differences in verbal- emotive development, and the effects these all have on relationships. Rich with examples and case studies, this book presents strategies for communication and conflict that build more emotional balance, while showing how intimate separateness can be the key to lifelong happiness.

A leading expert in Indian family law and one of India s most successful divorce lawyers, Malavika Rajkotia has seen the drama of marriages coming undone at close quarters the effects of infidelity, jealousy, domestic violence, property disputes and custody battles. In this important book, she draws upon her extensive experiences in court and with her clients, as well as on case law, to lay bare the mysteries of marriage, divorce and family law. Intimacy Undone examines the institution of marriage in India, from its historical roots to its evolution towards the moral, social and legal position it holds today. It tackles subjects as diverse as the gender equations underpinning society, how current Indian property and family laws came into being, and the controversy about the Uniform Civil Code. Along the way, Rajkotia also brings alive the drama of the divorce courts, critiques the foibles of the institutions involved, and, throughout, furthers the aim of family law to bring about a more equal society.

In the last decade or so, there has been a shift in the popular and academic discussion of our personal lives. Relationships – and not necessarily marriage – have gravitated to the center of our relational lives. Many of us feel entitled to seek intimacy, an emotionally depthful social bonding, rather than simply security or companionship from our relationships. Unlike in a marriage-centred culture, intimacy is today pursued in varied relationships, from familial to friends and to romances. And intimacies are being forged in multiple venues, from face-to-face to virtual, cyber contexts. A new scholarship has addressed this changing terrain of personal life – there is today a vast literature on cohabitation, parenthood without marriage, sex and love outside marriage, queer families, cyber intimacies and friendships. However, much theorizing and research has focussed either on the interior, subjective or sociocultural aspects of intimacies, not their interaction. This volume aims to break new ground: Intimacies explores the psychological terrain of intimacy in depthful ways without abandoning its sociohistorical context and the centrality of power dynamics. Drawing on a rich archive that includes the social sciences, feminism, queer studies, and psychoanalysis, the contributors examine: changing cultures of intimacy fluid and solid attachments and intimacies from hook ups, to sibling bonds, to erotic love a politics of intimacy that may involve state enforced hierarchies, class, misrecognition, social exclusion and violence embodied experiences of intimacy and dynamics of endings and loss a pluralization of intimacies that challenge established ethical hierarchies This volume aims to define the cutting edge of this emerging field of scholarship and politics. It challenges existing paradigms that assume rigid hierarchical approaches to relational life. Intimacies will be of interest for psychoanalysts and for students or scholars in sexualities, gender studies, family studies, feminism studies, queer studies, social class, cultural studies, and philosophy.

A behavioral scientist explores love, belongingness, and fulfillment, focusing on how modern technology can both help and hinder our need to connect. A Next Big Idea Club nominee. Millions of people around the world are not getting the physical, emotional, and intellectual intimacy they crave. Through the wonders of modern technology, we are connecting with more people more often than ever before, but are these connections what we long for? Pandemic isolation has made us even more alone. In Out of Touch, Professor of Psychology Michelle Drouin investigates what she calls our intimacy famine, exploring love, belongingness, and fulfillment and considering why relationships carried out on technological platforms may leave us starving for physical connection. Drouin puts it this way: when most of our interactions are through social media, we are taking tiny hits of dopamine rather than the huge shots of oxytocin that an intimate in-person relationship would provide. Drouin explains that intimacy is not just sex—although of course sex is an important part of intimacy. But how important? Drouin reports on surveys that millennials (perhaps distracted by constant Tinder-swiping) have less sex than previous generations. She discusses pandemic puppies, professional cuddlers, the importance of touch, “desire discrepancy” in marriage, and the value of friendships. Online dating, she suggests, might give users too many options; and the internet facilitates “infidelity-related behaviors.” Some technological advances will help us develop and maintain intimate relationships—our phones, for example, can be bridges to emotional support. Some, on the other hand, might leave us out of touch. Drouin explores both of these possibilities.

The loss of intimacy is one of the most difficult—but also one of the most common—factors in the destruction of any relationship. Recovering Intimacy in Love Relationships lays out practical, evidence-based guidelines on which clinicians can depend as they wade through the intense emotions and fragile bonds of couples in crisis. With care and sensitivity, the book's authors analyze the increasingly complex context in which the cycle of intimacy develops, wanes, and recovers. The chapters delve into diverse populations' attitudes toward intimacy and provide an entire section on cultural, gender and religious issues. Clinicians looking for a research-based, practical take on the many facets of intimacy in the twenty-first century need look no further than this book.

Most people believe that intimacy is a unitary construct-that is, that it is made up of only one component. Dr. Bagarozzi demonstrates how intimacy is comprised of at least nine separate subcomponents. The degree to which partners can meet the intimacy needs of their mates in all nine areas is critical to marital satisfaction. Building upon the foundations of the author's Enhancing Intimacy Program, which he developed and utilized in his own practice with clients, EnhancingIntimacy in Marriage explores the ways in which intimacy is demonstrated and communicated between married partners. A simple questionnaire, the Intimacy Needs Survey, is used to help couples identify areas of satisfaction and areas where intimacy needs are not being met. Clinical strategies for helping couples improve their intimacy are presented in case examples. This book is unique in that it offers clinicians a step-by-step approach for both assessment and intervention

The comprehensive guide to getting close—and closer . . . Renowned psychologist Dr. Paul Coleman gives readers a step–by–step, clear path to improving their relationships by helping them identify intimacy problems, understand key differences between men and women, change perceptions, overcome arguments, and effectively communicate. He also covers sexual intimacy and affection issues, including intimacy during stressful times, transitions, and as relationships progress. This book is a beacon for those looking to solve their struggles with intimacy. • Tools and exercises for both physical and emotional intimacy • Self-assessment tests and exercises to help pinpoint issues • For couples, singles, and families, men and women • Coleman is an expert with an active practice and specialty in intimacy issues who’s made appearances on Oprah, Today, and Geraldo