relationships

The Fantasy Bond Defined for Professionals

An Introduction to The Fantasy Bond with Dr. Lisa Firestone  

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The Benefits of the Long-Distance Relationship By: Angelina Cruz

If you are in a long-distance relationship, then you are one of those lucky few to experience an interesting and unique way to love. There are so many negative aspects associated with long-distance relationships today that it is sometimes hard to see the silver-lining around them. Although being separated from your partner can place a physical and emotional limitation on your day-to-day life, there are actually many benefits to this type of relationship. Enjoy!

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Keep Love Strong This Valentine’s Day and Beyond

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… Read more »

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5 Strategies for Dealing With Your Partner’s Fear of Intimacy

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…. Read more »

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Addicted to Doomed Relationships?

If we were asked, as an exercise, to craft a personal ad detailing what we want in a partner, it may read something like: Seeking someone who is kind and patient, independent yet loving, laid back, yet energetic. Someone who is confident but isn’t afraid to laugh at him/herself. Someone attractive but down to earth…. Read more »

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Why Are We Hooked on Rejection?

You don’t need to be a psychologist to note the very harsh effects of a breakup on a person’s mental health. When a relationship ends, humiliation, rage, loneliness, anguish and grief all seem to simultaneously show up at the door, marching in arm-in-arm to parade noisily around our psyche. Evicting these emotions is a matter… Read more »

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A Relationship is a Creative Work: An Interview with Dr. James and Carol Gilligan

A Relationship Is A Creative Work Dr. Carol Gilligan: It’s like, if you do any creative work, you have to be willing to fail because creative work means you’re walking off the edge of a cliff. You don’t know what you’re going to do. And we’re a society that has a very low tolerance of… Read more »

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The Difference Between Emotional Hunger and Real Love

Emotional hunger is not love. It is a strong emotional need caused by deprivation in childhood. It is a primitive condition of pain and longing which people often act out in a desperate attempt to fill a void or emptiness. This emptiness is related to the pain of aloneness and separateness and can never realistically… Read more »

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Alive Sexuality by Robert Firestone, Ph.D.

Sex is one of the strongest motivating forces in life. It has the potential for creating intense pleasure and fulfillment or for causing considerable pain and suffering. The effect of a natural expression of sexuality on one’s sense of well-being and overall enjoyment of life cannot be over-emphasized. The way people feel about themselves as… Read more »

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It’s Not You It’s Me: The Truth Behind The Excuse

Anyone who’s done their share of dating has probably been on one side or the other of the It’s not you, it’s me routine. These five common words, which strive for compassion, in reality just leave our exes confused and puzzling over what went wrong. No one buys this explanation. And why should they? After all, most… Read more »

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