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Browse every published article connected to Tina Tessina, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Tina Tessina, or search within this exact expert archive.
Dr. Romance writes: What do you do after you have tried everything and your partner, friend, child or colleague still won't negotiate?
Dear Dr. Romance: My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost two years now. There is a seventeen year difference in age. I left for two and a half months to help my older sister during her second pregnancy because her husband was in Iraq.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I've seen your website and I think you may be the exact person to be able to help me. My wife and I have been married for just about 10 yrs., we have 3 beautiful children, and we live fairly comfortably (money is not too big of an issue). I grew up in a fairly affluent family, with good strong ethics -my wife calls us the 'Beaver Cleaver Family' .
Dear Dr. Romance: Why am i intimidating? after i start talking to guys and i've hooked up with them, some have told me i am intimidating and they become shy in person. I'm not like scary or creepy or anything. (i'm tall skinny, blonde hair n blue eyes.) but is there anything i can do to fix that? Is it a bad thing"? Dear Reader:
Dear Dr. Romance: When one hits a setback in life what are some healthy ways to keep moving forward? How can one build a healthy mental outlook when things go wrong? Dear Reader:
Dear Dr. Romance: I'm 17 years old and I have been with my boyfriend for 6 years. We have grown up together and he is all I know. We are very mature when it comes to our relationship and our sex life. I want to spend the rest of my life with him but there's a problem. I have made many mistakes in my past and have hurt him so many times. When I almost lost him I decided to change my ways and make him happy the way he deserves.
Dear Dr. Romance: How can one be sure that a person they met through a dating service is not disturbed in any way? What type of safety precautions can one take? Dear Reader:
Dr. Romance wishes you Happy Holidays with a song lyric.
Dear Dr. Romance I am in a relationship of a year and 3 months. My girlfriend Phyllis and I have a constant communication problem that we want to address. Neither of us are currently working. I do get unemployment but my bills out weigh my income. Do you know how we can find low cost counseling? Dear Reader: If your bills outweigh your income, you are wise not to pay high fees for therapy. There are low-cost options for counselling:
Dr. Romance is delighted to announce the publication of her new book, with co-author Riley K. Smith: How to be Happy Partners: Working it out Together
Dear Dr. Romance: To be honest I think she is really scared to go to therapy I have been many times And I know it works And I really want her and I to learn how to communicate stumped Dear Reader:
Dr. Romance's Top 5 ways to take your marriage from good to great.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: As a woman in my early twenties, I am finding it hard to get over a man with whom i have been in love with for 5 years. He is married now to another woman and they are about to have their first child. Seven years ago, I joined a church choir where i met this man. He gives me and some other choir members car ride every Saturday and Sunday to church.
Dr. Romance writes:
Dear Dr. Romance: We'd been really close and intimate. I thought we were going to be in a special relationship soon because he told me we were having something special. No matter how tired he was, he'd had his dinner with me.
It's not easy to know what to do when you have a friend who seems depressed. Dr. Romance has some guidelines to help you support and care for your dear one. 1. Don't try to cheer your friend up. It just sounds like you don't understand. 2. Listen, listen, listen: Your friend needs someone who can hear whatever the problem is. It doesn't matter if it seems like a small or big problem to you, it's overwhelming to your friend, and he or she needs to talk about it. A lot.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I met someone from online and we talked for a night and we met that night and one thing led to another and as it turns out he wanted to see me again.2 days later he tells me that hes trying to work this out with his ex wife. How do I not go into that situation? This is the second time it's happened to me. I've never been married and I just got out out of a violent relationship so I don't know what to do? Dear Reader:
Dear Dr. Romance I am in a same sex relationship of a year and 3 months. My girlfriend Phyllis and I have a constant communication problem that we want to address. Neither of us are currently working. I do get unemploymnet but my bills out weigh my income. Do you know how we can find low cost counseling? Dear Reader: If your bills outweigh your income, you are wise not to pay high fees for therapy. There are low-cost options for counselling:
Dr Romance’s 3 tips for living with someone instead of marriage: It's way too easy, in the throes of a new romance, to decide to live together without considering the problems that might arise. Dr. Romance gives you some things to think about before making the leap, to guarantee success.
Dear Dr. Romance:
The average person pays more attention to what she's saying or thinking about than what she is hearing, or how her words are "landing" on the other person. This self-involvement gets worse during an argument.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dr. Romance on men and biological clocks: To watch video, click here Yes, a man can feel the need to grow up and have a family, especially when he finds a woman who inspires those feelings in him. The problem is, how can you be sure the match is a good one?
Dear Dr. Romance:
Grief is an essential life skill -- knowing how to survive grief means feeling safe to take another risk, and grieving actually expands one's capacity to love.Expression of grief, and respect for the dead, is very important to the grieving process. A symbol of grief for the loss of one person reminds us all of our grief for anyone we lost, and can be overwhelming.
Dr. Romance on creating a Happy New Year Most of us are infused with good will and joy over the holidays, getting together with loved ones and friends, spreaking kindness, and being surrounded by reminders of holiday spirit. The holidays happen around this time of year for a reason: it's the time when the old year ends, and the new one begins. We have yet another chance to start again. Here are some ways to keep that happiness going.
"As the price of liberty is vigilance -- so the price of independence is self-determination, the price of dignity is self-assertion, and the price of respect is self-respect," wrote psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz.
Dear Dr. Romance: My best girlfriend ever and I dated for about eight months, then had a long distance relationship when she went back to her home country. She just broke up with me over email and she is dating someone from her home city for the last month. I thought we were very happy and serious and our best things were chemistry and compatibility!
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I came across your blog while searching the internet for help for women In dysfunctional relationships. . Your language and spiritual, yet non judgmental approach really resonated with me.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I read some of the things you stated about marriage and why people divorce. I am feeling overwhelmed lately to the point I just want out. I have been married for over 17 years. We have 2 school-age children together. I am in school full time and work full time and still have a household to run. Can you please help me find a counselor? You are a blessing to all who reads and speak with you. Keep doing your daily work. God Bless. Dear Reader:
Dr. Romance writes: It was one of those magical encounters with a personal truth—you know how it feels. I was fifteen, in ninth-grade English. The teacher, Mr. Rizzutto, read us a poem, and it had such a profound effect on me that even five decades later, I’m still using it as a guide. The poem, “Outwitted,” by Edwin Markham, is simple: He drew a circle that shut me out; Heretic; rebel; a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.
There are people I love who are easy to be around, and others I love who are more difficult for me.
Once you have gone through the wrenching experience of loss or divorce, it's not easy to pick up the pieces and find a new love. If you have children, they have been through a lot of upset, also. So when you do find a new love and want to create a blended family in a new way, these steps will help: Dr. Romance's 4 tips to smoother step-parenting
p>Dear Dr. Romance: Several years ago I met this man. it was instant attraction for both of us. we fell instantly for each other but he had a girlfriend. I gave him the space he needed and we both agreed to just be friends. we tried it once when they broke up but it was difficult. So I got a boyfriend and stayed with him for a year and a half.
In my counseling practice, couples are often surprised to learn they can communicate and solve problems effectively without fighting; but sometimes you may find it's not so easy to give up your struggles. You may have trouble letting go of the fighting habit because of two factors: social expectations (expectations the people around you have about marriage) and myths (common beliefs not based on fact.) Myths and Expectations about Fighting
Dr. Romance writes: Life is frequently not easy, and we often encounter problems and difficulties that require us to pay attention to our own feelings.
The biggest obstacle to most of my clients' healing and recovery is their inability to understand and accept their feelings, and the emotional and behavioral clues that indicate where the problems lie. Most of us learn early that being too open with our feelings and thoughts is dangerous. It can lead to punishment, censure, ridicule, or hurt feelings. In some families, being open and honest about your feelings is like giving other family members ammunition to use against you.
Dr. Romance writes:
Dear Dr. Romance,
Dear Dr. Romance: Last year, my boyfriend he broke up with me 3 days before my birthday. On the actual day, he didn't even so much as text or call to wish me a happy birthday - or even send me a card. I was devastated, esp because I really made a big deal of his birthday last year - bought him a very expensive cake, made him dinner, got him a thoughtful gift and card, etc.