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	<title>Better Relationships &#187; Porn</title>
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	<description>Marriage &#38; Couples Counseling, Psychotherapy, Premarital Counseling</description>
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		<title>Hooked on Porn? 3 Ways Porn Addiction Affects Your Relationship</title>
		<link>https://www.better-relationships.com/hooked-on-porn-3-ways-porn-addiction-affects-your-relationship/</link>
		<comments>https://www.better-relationships.com/hooked-on-porn-3-ways-porn-addiction-affects-your-relationship/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Feb 2018 01:17:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jim Swaniger]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[ADDICTIONS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CONFLICT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[INFIDELITY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MARRIAGE COUNSELING]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MEN'S ISSUES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIP THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WOMEN'S ISSUES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[emotional affair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[infidelity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porn Addiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.better-relationships.com/?p=3907</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Porn has become a household subject within the past few decades. While most people aren’t sitting around the dinner table discussing it in detail, we are more aware of its existence now than ever. In fact, many people have invited porn into their lives “just for fun.” Maybe you thought viewing a little action to “spice” up your own libido wouldn’t hurt anything. Now, you’re hooked. You can’t get enough. When you first started watching porn you may not have intended for this to happen. As life plays out, though, it’s easy to see that porn is anything but harmless to a romantic relationship. Ways Porn Addiction Affects Your Relationship 1. Decreases Sexual Satisfaction It may seem like an oxymoron to say that porn decreases sexual satisfaction. This is a reality for porn viewers, though. It may even be a reality for you. For example, watching porn can quickly alter your expectation of sex. Meaning, you don’t think or feel about sex the way that you once did. Your partner used to turn you on, but now arousal is difficult for you. Furthermore, porn viewers learn to expect something new each time. It could be a new scenario, new characters, or new angle. Your partner can start to seem boring to you because he or she isn’t anything “new.” Sadly, your partner may feel cheated by the fact that you choose to view porn over making love to him or her. This feeling of betrayal can quickly pull the two of you apart. If you don’t address the issue, then the gaping distance in your relationship will progressively grow larger and larger. This leads us to the next problem. 2. Decreases Intimacy Many people use intimacy and sex interchangeably. They aren’t the same, though. While intimacy can be sex and sex can be intimacy, it’s not automatic. Sex is, however, one of the deepest forms of intimacy. This notion is what porn twists. In short, when you make love you make love to a person. When you watch porn you watch sex organs. Porn has diminished both men and women [&#8230;]]]></description>
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		<title>Building Trust in Relationships</title>
		<link>https://www.better-relationships.com/build-trust-in-relationships/</link>
		<comments>https://www.better-relationships.com/build-trust-in-relationships/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2016 01:15:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jim Swaniger]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[COMMUNICATION]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COUPLES THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MARRIAGE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MARRIAGE COUNSELING]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIP THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trust in relationships]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.better-relationships.com/?p=3623</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is difficult to achieve intimacy in a relationship unless we have the ability to trust. We tend to focus on other people when we think about trust – that is, we might ask, who out there can be trusted and who cannot? But it may be more helpful to look inside ourselves and to think about trust as something that we either do well, or not. Some people grow up with a good ability to trust appropriately. Others, because of their early childhood and adult life experiences begin a relationship by mistrusting the other person or by placing their trust in the wrong person. Some people learn to trust for the first time during the course of professional psychotherapy. Having a good eye for trust involves having a healthy sense of our own identities. This means having a positive self-image, the ability to value ourselves and our decisions, and a good sense for protecting our own boundaries. We need to know what we stand for and what is best for us. Trust also involves acquiring a knack for making good judgments. When we have the self-confidence that comes with knowing and liking ourselves, as well as the ability to make life-enhancing decisions, we should be able to decide fairly easily about whom to trust. Trust between two people emerges from a process of mutual self-disclosure – we gradually reveal more and more about ourselves to the other person until the relationship achieves a sense of emotional intimacy. The first person self-discloses only to the degree that the other person has, in a series of steps. A good balance in communication is maintained between both people. If this balance is disrupted, it is difficult to maintain trust. For example, if one person reveals everything all at once and the other person reveals nothing at all, the balance is broken – and neither person will be able to trust the other. The building of trust is a mutual process that takes time. We feel comfortable revealing things about ourselves when the other person has shown that he or she is willing [&#8230;]]]></description>
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		<title>Infidelity &#8211; Can the Relationship Survive?</title>
		<link>https://www.better-relationships.com/relationships-sex/</link>
		<comments>https://www.better-relationships.com/relationships-sex/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2016 03:23:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jim Swaniger]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[INFIDELITY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MARRIAGE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MARRIAGE COUNSELING]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIP THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divorce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[emotional affairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[infidelity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[office romance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.better-relationships.com/?p=3611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The single most destructive threat to a committed relationship is when one of the partners engages in an intimate relationship with another person. This is not an uncommon event. Conservative estimates suggest that about a quarter of women, and a third of men, have violated their marital commitment to their partners. About 65 percent of marriages struck by infidelity end in divorce. The impact on the lives of those involved with infidelity is enormous. It violates the integrity, trust, and commitment upon which marriage is based. When two people enter into a committed relationship, they make a promise to love and honor each other. This involves making a heart-felt promise to work through the problems that are sure to arise within the relationship. To break that promise means dishonoring the trust of the person who has agreed to live with you and build a life together. When an extramarital affair is discovered, a crisis ensues. Now the question is – can this relationship continue? In more than half the cases, the relationship does end – but, depending on how this crisis is dealt with by both partners, the relationship does have a chance to continue. In some cases, this relationship crisis serves as a watershed event that opens the door to self-examination and honest communication that may put the relationship on stronger ground. Whether infidelity leads to dissolution of the relationship or, at the other extreme, a more positive outcome with a stronger commitment and better communication depends on many factors. One important variable is whether the partner who is unfaithful came from a family with infidelity. People with parents who were unfaithful are at higher risk for infidelity within their own relationships – although this is certainly not always the case, and many people from these families are determined never to repeat their parent’s mistake. Yet we learn many things in our families of origin, and one of those is to copy the behavior of our parents – and sometimes to act out our unresolved issues. Emotional Significance of the Affair Another factor that may determine whether a relationship [&#8230;]]]></description>
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		<title>Working Alone on Your Relationship</title>
		<link>https://www.better-relationships.com/working-alone-on-my-relationship/</link>
		<comments>https://www.better-relationships.com/working-alone-on-my-relationship/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Oct 2016 23:29:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jim Swaniger]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[COMMITMENT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COUPLES THERAPY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[INFIDELITY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MEN'S ISSUES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Porn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RELATIONSHIPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WOMEN'S ISSUES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[together but alone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[working alone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.better-relationships.com/?p=3340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Is it fair that you have to work on your relationship alone? Many couple counselors would probably say no, it isn&#8217;t, but they would probably encourage you to consider the alternatives. For example, you can choose to stay stuck in a relationship stalemate, but then each of you lose the potential benefits that can come from the work that you do – for example, a healthier and more supportive commitment in your relationship. Or you can let the relationship end. But working alone may not be a realistic option if the situation is unbearable or abusive or if you’re completely mismatched. However, if there is a chance that your relationship can work, it might be well worth it for you to keep trying until you have tried using all of your ideas. Otherwise, you may regret ending your relationship too soon, and this would be unfair to you. When thinking about fairness in your relationship, remember that many things in life are not fair. Illness, financial setbacks, divorce, and the loss of a loved one happen to the best of people. And even if you and your partner put equal effort into your relationship there is no guarantee that your problems would be resolved. Still, like many others working alone in difficult circumstances, you keep trying, because this is what many people do – to persist when faced with personal struggles. If, for whatever reason, your partner lacks the ability to work with you to solve problems, you may have to accept this. It isn’t ideal but it’s your reality. Sometimes the strength and courage of one partner is needed to compensate for the shortcomings of another. The real test of fairness in this situation is questioning whether you are creating the best life you can for yourself. In all of our relationships we need to have a balance, not necessarily between two partners but a balance between our own needs and the needs of the relationship. The source of your personal happiness lies within you and comes from your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strengths. Working on these strengths [&#8230;]]]></description>
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