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One of the best known obsessive-compulsive couples is depicted in The Odd Couple, a play by Neil Simon, which was also made into a movie and then a television series. The story concerned a relationship between two men—one meticulously neat and controlling, the other a careless slob. Many male-female couples like this form “odd” relationships [...]
“No, sorry—I can’t. That show gives me a headache.” “Well, it’s my favorite show, and I want to watch it.” “Don’t bother me right now. I have a headache.” “Would you please switch the channel.” “No.” “Then I’ll go watch it in the bedroom.” “Suit yourself, but I’m not switching the channel, because that show [...]
The next step in the massage (if he has persuaded her to go on) is to take a few ice cubes, wrap them in a face cloth or clean handkerchief, and slowly slide that along her spine to the nape of her neck. Then he slowly, lovingly slides the cold compress all around the shoulders, [...]
The main difficulty for the wife is to overcome her accumulation of hurt pride. Her husband’s passive-aggression and sexual frustration tactics may have left her bitter, and at the moment she might rather strangle than charm him. But she must transcend this impulse and channel it into her mischievous seduction. She must also not allow [...]
The resolution to such an impasse is to communicate what is being repressed. However, this is not so easy. To simply tell my patient to express his anger or verbalize his taboo fantasies of strangling her or of having angry sex with her would do no good. He would think of a thousand reasons for [...]