My husband, Steve, and I have been together for 13 years. Well, kind of. You see, we've had a very rocky marriage. We used to call ourselves "on again, off again." My husband had a full-time hobby that used to keep him very busy: it was called alcohol. I was far from perfect myself, and it wasn't easy to compete with the bottle, so we knew how to...

As we look forward to the future we might also look back and gain a better perspective of the changes in family structure in America. Can you fill in the blanks below? (Answers at the end of this column.) 1. Divorces per 1000 married women in 1900, the divorce rate was: 12 9 19 22 3 2. In 1970 50% of American households consisted...

I couldn’t cry. I knew if I started I would never stop. My whole world had crashed before my very eyes but I had to be strong. I had to hold it together. I had to seem like everything was going to be all right. For their sake I needed to be in control at all times. Did they know the pain that I was hiding? Could they see in my eyes the terror...

Is it possible to heal when your spouse moves on with their affair partner? Many people take the time to share their stories with us through this website. Some are able to heal their marriages and some are not (and some choose not to) yet somehow we must slowly heal from the pain and move on with our lives. Ruth Ritchie has had to move on...

The hum in the office grew as people filtered in that morning. Soft chuckles over some incident the night before, muffled conversations and ringing phones filled the air. Suddenly, an urgent tone broke in. The first reports of a possible tragedy began circulating, and while some employees wrapped up phone calls, one or two turned on a radio, and...

Traditionally, when couples fight, have misunderstandings, discover a lack of things in common, or confront the challenge of incompatibility, their first instinct is to flee while rationalizing to themselves "this will never work, we're just too different." In The New Intimacy, Judith and Jim present a stark contrast to that perspective, illuminating...

I remember when I was 12 years old, playing in a peewee hockey game where we were getting destroyed. My father (and coach) stormed into the dressing room between periods and yelled at my teammates, “Listen up, you guys! Just give the puck to Paul and get out of his way!” I was mortified at the time, but later on it hit me. My Dad thinks I’m...