Much of my clinical and academic work involves helping individuals develop the adult component of the psychological repertoire of behavior. This is usually the aspect that is missing and contributing to the lack of intimacy in their marital relationship.

These behaviors keep people from experiencing their true emotions, which again cripples them from having an intimate relationship with themselves and a significant other.

Sexual frequency is a real conflict between them, and when they have confronted the issue, they always end up in the same place. Promises are made to try harder, to make changes that will bring about greater intimacy. After a while, though, the “talk and the walk” don’t come together…

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Another reason parents have so much power in influencing a child’s self-esteem is that it’s critical to a child to obtain their parents’ validation and love. This is because a child needs a sense of security, and with their parents’ love and validation, they will feel secure. Children try to get their parents’ approval by trying to meet their

Well, that was hard to hear at first, but then it started to make sense. If I was complete with both a feminine and masculine balance within my own psychological makeup, then I didn’t need a woman to complete me. I could say then with confidence that I want to be with a woman to share my life’s experiences without the dependency and fear of

They don’t believe that they need to defend or justify why they feel the way they do, it’s just how they feel emotionally. When individuals are able to validate their own emotional truth, they won’t tolerate being intimately involved with someone who doesn’t share their same belief or respect of emotions.

After practicing sex therapy for a while, it became very clear to me that couples need to have a good foundation of emotional intimacy in order to have a fulfilling sex life.

I often ask clients how they feel emotionally, and they will answer that they feel bad or good. It is so common for people to view the terms bad or good as if they are human emotions. The truth is that these words are value judgments, not human emotions.

Another reason that women are seen as emotionally dependent is that they seem to need more emotional intimacy in their relationships than men do. Does this need for intimacy make them dependent? Not really—it just underlines the fact that they are generally much more comfortable with intimacy than men.