Does your marriage partner think that the world revolves around them?
There’s a lot of good information out there to help a troubled marriage survive, but when it comes to a marriage in which one spouse suffers from narcissism, there are very few resources available on how to make it work. Some statistics suggest that many troubled marriages contain one partner who has some degree of narcissism – and the outcome is fairly predictable.
When one spouse thinks that the marriage revolves around him or her, it causes extreme stress on the entire marriage. Usually the other spouse recognizes the problem, repeatedly tries to fix the issues and, unfortunately, is unable to change things.
Often, a marriage with this kind of stress will easily collapse but John O’Donoghue believes there are solutions. In many cases, he suggests the most important factor for change is the ability to understand how the narcissistic partner thinks and the willingness to accept it.
John O’Donoghue is a marriage and family therapist with John O’Donoghue Therapy Services in Raleigh, NC. John specializes in providing psychotherapy to individuals, couples and families. He helps people understand what life is like with a narcissistic partner and works to try to make marriages successful when one spouse is narcissistic.
To learn more about John and his practice, visit his website or call 919-341-2477 to make an appointment.
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Are you sabotaging your love life?
Statistics show that 85 percent of single women can’t wait to get married– but do they really want the whole package? We already know that women have vastly different expectations of marriage than men do so it should be no surprise that men don’t always live up to those expectations. Throughout the phases of marriage, however, many things can change.
As many as 70 percent of wives express unhappiness and dissatisfaction in their marriages over time– which is a pretty big number. Is that just part of the natural cycle that marriages go through, or does it signal a larger issue? When women are dissatisfied, what do they do about it?
This episode, our guest has the answers to these questions and can help explain why couples experience these cycles. She also has some tips on marriage– how to make it, break it or keep it. Susan Shapiro Barash is the author of 13 books, including The Nine Phases of Marriage. Susan teaches gender studies at Marymount Manhattan College and helps women understand the issues they face during marriage.
To learn more about Susan Shapiro Barash visit her website. Visit BookTrib to find out more about Susan’s many publications.
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If there was an instruction book for a happy marriage, would you use it?
No one makes such a great commitment, like marriage, with the assumption that they will one day end up as anything other than happy. So what is the key to a happy marriage when small squabbles and large debates muddy the waters of your love? We often don’t consider these issues unless they’re directly affecting our own marriages. Is it possible to turn a bad situation around when we’re being reactive to a situation rather than being proactive?
In a lot of cases, many little issues add up to become one big issue. If you can identify what some of those “little things” are, you can make any necessary adjustments in your marriage that can help you stay happy as a couple. But how exactly do you work to discover what these problem triggers could be?
Dr. Tina Lepage shares 10 of the humorous secrets to staying happily married from a marriage counselor’s perspective. Tina is founder of Lepage Associates in Durham, North Carolina, where she specializes in couples and marriage therapy. To find out more about Tina Lepage and her practice in Durham, NC, Lepage Associates, you can visit their website or call (919)572-0000 for an appointment.
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