The hormone oxytocin has come under intensive study in light of emerging evidence that its release contributes to the social bonding that occurs between lovers, friends, and colleagues. Oxytocin also plays an important role in birth and maternal behavior, but until now, research had never addressed the involvement of oxytocin in the transition to fatherhood.

A fascinating new paper by Gordon and colleagues reports the first longitudinal data on oxytocin levels during the initiation of parenting in humans. They evaluated 160 first-time parents (80 couples) twice after the birth of their first child, at 6 weeks and 6 months, by measuring each parents’ oxytocin levels and monitoring and coding their parenting behavior. [continue reading…]

Image: Michael Cerasoli

Internet Access at Home Increases the Likelihood that Adults Will Be in Relationships . Internet is especially important for bringing together same-sex couples, and may soon replace friends as the prime way all Americans meet their romantic partners.

Adults who have Internet access at home are much more likely to be in romantic relationships than adults without Internet access, according to research to be presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

“Although prior research on the social impacts of Internet use has been rather ambiguous about the social cost of time spent online, our research suggests that Internet access has an important role to play in helping Americans find mates,” said Michael J. Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University and the lead author of the study, “Meeting Online: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary.” [continue reading…]

Marriage counselling can do more harm than good as it makes couples feel like a failure and that their relationship is already over a current report from the Department of Education suggests!

“Many of the participants felt that a couple should be able to deal with their relationship problems privately… without having to rely on external relationship support,” the report said.

OK call me biased (as I do manage a psychology practice) and over many years have witnessed couples successful resolve their relationship difficulties with the help of skilled psychotherapist. Family and friends whilst a great support in times of distress do not very often possess the skill set a trained professional has!
I do agree that couples in marital distress often wait until the eleventh hour to seek help. The stigmatism that has plagued people who suffer from mental illness/depression and has long stopped them seeking constructive help. I think and hope that this is slowly but surely being eroded, so please lets not put relationship counselling into that same bag!

The report recommended that professional support should be made as “informal” as possible and that they should not be billed as a way of trying to resolve an already failed relationship.

Divorce and the financial ramifications of failed marriages, especially where there are children are infintely more costly than the investment of marriage counselling… lawyers and the legal aftermath are way more costly than therapists. I’m not sure why investing in the most important relationship you have should be cost free. We maintain our homes, we maintain our cars and then we balk at paying fees to seek help to maintain our marriage?

Read the report tell us what you think… have you ever had relationship therapy ? Was it useful?

Link to read this Telegraph article
Link to download the report let us know what you think!