It’s a bit of a cliché now to say “everything has changed” in 2020. But, let’s face it, a lot of what we deemed normal has been transformed — perhaps forever. In such an environment, where do dating, sex, and romance fit in?

I was recently quoted in the following Well + Good article by Zoe Weiner . Hope you enjoy! Could your phone be ruining your relationship?

It’s easy to get off track with your New Year’s resolutions when you’re the only one holding yourself accountable. If you’re in a relationship, though, you have a leg up: When you set goals as a couple, you’re far more likely to keep each other focused on achieving them.

To help you figure out what to talk about ahead of time, we asked therapists and psychologists who work with couples to share their favorite first date discussion points. See what they had to say below.

“So, does everyone in the movie theater look like me?” I playfully asked the ticket taker. “Um, I’m not sure,” he said, answering carefully.On September 8, 2017, I saw “Year by the Sea,” a film (now available on Amazon and iTunes) about an older married couple, Joan and Robin.

Fifth Meridian Travel featured a guest blog post I wrote entitled “Incompatible Travel Styles? 5 Tips from a Couples Therapist for a Great Trip!

“When one partner is really upset at the other, is it better to just outright express the anger, or to hold off? I’m trying to get better at expressing myself, and my friend’s trying to get better at not yelling.

I was reminded about a common relationship misconception when I was walking to work and heard a man singing along to Paul Simon: “You don’t feel you could love me. But I feel you could.” Ah, a frequent through line in relationship problems!

You can probably guess that the "3 Ways to Guarantee Your Partner Will Open Up!" part of this title is written tongue in cheek!

It’s a slippery slope!

Skip the breakup and picture-tearing stage and simply don’t date him to begin with.

It’s important to give people a chance while dating, but there are some red flags you just can’t overlook:

Every interpersonal relationship requires work and maintenance, especially romantic relationships. Whether it’s a long term dating relationship, a long lasting engagement, or a marriage, all couples eventually experience problems they need to address together.

Are you doomed to marry the wrong person, as a May 28, 2016, New York Times article stated? Union Sq./E. Village NYC therapist Diane Spear takes on the question in this post.

Do you have to make someone a villain to spend less time with them or to break up? This was a recent topic of conversation with a young adult woman, and is a great question

What do you, Cinderella, and Prince Charming have in common, aside from being a great catch professionally and personally? If you're like most people, you and these storybook characters share some unrealistic relationship expectations.

Love and connection. In reading Oliver Sacks’s February 19, 2015, op-ed piece in the New York Times in which he tells us of his metastasized cancer and what he describes as his “detachment” from life, I was struck by his acute engagement with his life.

I read an interesting “Opinionator” piece in the New York Times called “A Decade of Goodbye,” about the process of helping a loved one die.

The following article, “Couples Counseling With High-Conflict People,” is adapted from a 2013 guest post I wrote for Randi Kreger's Psychology Today “Stop Walking On Eggshells” blog.

Communication is supposed to be helped by technology, right? We’re available 24/7 now, through cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. We may be communicating, but are we relating?

The article below about family language, also known as “chemistry,” was originally published on Your Tango, an online women’s magazine. Diane Spear, LCSW-R The emotional family language of childhood attracts you to familiar people and situations: chemistry.