I have been a Portland marriage counselor for 30 years. I have seen the impact of technology on romantic relationships. In its best use, electronic communications can be a great way to check in during the day and at its worst it can unnecessarily ruin a relationship.  Texts and emails can never replace intimate face-to-face [...]

This Portland marriage counselor was interested in an a recent article in the New York Times . The author firsts asks us, does your marriage need therapy? She then goes on to say, “if you are like most people, the correct answer may well be yes, but your answer will be no”. [...]

I recently came across yet another article about the sexless marriage by Camille Paglia.  As a Portland marriage counselor I am concerned at the rising need for a female Viagra and a culture that is highly sexualized by the media, but actually sex-starved at home.  Although a rather academic article (to read see link above) [...]

Being a marriage counselor in Portland, Oregon, means that I talk to couples and individuals regularly about improving their sexual desire. Sex drive has many contributing factors. Web MD suggests that there are 12 major areas that are “Sex Drive Killers” for women and men:

Stress
Relationship Problems
Alcohol
Parenting (privacy problems)
Too little sleep
Medication
Body image
Obesity
Low testosterone
Depression
Menopause
Too little intimacy [...]

Even a marriage counselor in Portland, Oregon can be guilty of too much bickering, one of the most unpleasant of relationship habits. Recently on a vacation with my spouse we reflected on how we no longer bicker. (Actually he said we do so bicker, and I said we do not.)
It got us to talking about [...]

As a Portland, Oregon marriage counselor I’m always looking for relationship advice to pass along. Researchers haven’t discovered any pharmaceutical miracles yet to increase women’s sexual desire, but luckily there are things that can be done naturally. I’m not against creating a “female Viagra” type drug, because I know how painful and potentially destructive low [...]

Marriage counselors in Portland, Oregon, work regularly with step family issues in order to help couples succeed at remarriage.  The divorce rate in couples who remarry with children is even higher that the rate for first marriages. There is an excellent collection of free resources for step families at the website , Empowering Parents, including [...]

One of my esteemed colleagues in the field, marriage counselor Dr. Bill Doherty, has some interesting thoughts on the lessons to be learned from last week’s public marriage news of the rich and famous. I will highlight some of Dr. Doherty’s points, but to read his full comments please follow the link to his blog: [...]

I imagine the Gores did try marriage counseling. But did they get the right kind of relationship help? We will probably never know, but this Monday Morning Quarterback wonders if they sought help that had all three essential components: tools, structure and education? It made me sad to hear of their separation and [...]

Two studies in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin claims shyness can influence the quality of an ongoing relationship – even one as important as marriage. Good relationship advice might be to consider the impact of your personality on your marriage. Marriage counselors are keenly aware of the extent to which a person’s personality determines the [...]