Graduate Student, Systemic Clinical Psychology (Interuniversity Clinical Psychology PhD - Family Psychology
PhD student (3rd year)
School of Psychology
Thesis Title: Intimacy and Sexual Desire: Couple Differentiation as paradox?
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Isabel Narciso, PhD
Rosa Novo, PhD |
About
The scientific community has been pointing out that one of the main challenges for couples is the impact of time on sexual desire. Some studies suggest that while some dimensions associated with intimacy (i.e: sharing and closeness) tend to increase along the relationship, sexual desire and the related constructs (i.e: passion, sexual activity) tend to decrease. Recently, some authors (Perel, 2007; Schnarch, 2001) suggest that couple relationships with high degrees of sharing and fusion might be particularly detrimental for the sustenance of sexual desire. However, on this literature review, we found no empirical studies that investigated the inter-relationships between intimacy and desire, and found a deep confusion in the naming of terms associated with these constructs. Recovering the concept of differentiation (Bowen, 1979; Schnarch, 2001) as a possible mediating variable between intimacy and desire, we aim, in this systems-based mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research project, to study this theme, which we consider to be of paramount relevance for the couples’ viability.
Keywords: Intimacy, Sexual desire, Marital differentiation, Couple, Time of relationship/marriag
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