Going to couples therapy wasn't something my boyfriend or I had to wrangle the other into. Our rough patch was more like a slick of black ice, and we were careening towards a precipitous ending. We had moved in together almost a year earlier, and couples therapy seemed easier than breaking up. It would at least buy us time to figure out how to split our belongings while I looked for my own place in New York City.

I went into counseling thinking Ryan had to change. If he didn't fix at least eight of the things that were … Read More

When Madonna and Guy Ritchie split at the end of 2008, the tabloids rejoiced. What fodder to keep churning out rumor after incredulous rumor. The most salacious of them all involved what the media called a "marriage pact." Supposedly devised by the couple's marriage therapist, the contract of sorts was meant to solidify their bond and open up communication. But what it did, in fact, was send the tabloid world into a tailspin.

"Devote time to our sexual expressiveness."

"We will not use sex as a stick to beat one another."

"If we are arguing, I will not shout, but … Read More

Part I. by James W. Powell

My wife doesn't understand the pain I'm suffering. I can tell by the way she's looking at me—tilting her head and studying me as if I were an extraterrestrial. I'm lying in bed next to her with the lights on, staring at the ceiling fan, my mind racing with What Ifs and Shoulda Woulda Couldas.

There's comforting concern in her eyes, but there's bafflement in there, too. "I don't understand why you're so upset," she says, reaching out to caress my shoulder.

I take a deep breath and sigh yet again. The wound is too fresh. I'm … Read More