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Browse published articles attributed to Tina Tessina, with full-archive search.
Dear Dr. Romance: You give good advice and I really like the articles you have here. I wish I could apply it to my life. I have married and divorced twice and i always tell myself "I don't know how to choose a man". But is it the man or me who is wrong? I don't know. Now, I have a new relationship and I am afraid to lose again this time. Can you tell me what to do?
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr Romance: I hope you will be able to provide me with an insight. I was in a relationship with a man I genuinely loved and wanted future with. Our relationship was lovely to start with but after a few months problems started to emerge: another woman told me he was in a relationship with her and my trust was broken.
Dear Dr. Romance: I found your article about women dating younger men. So, here I'm in a middle of a crisis... hope you can read it and hope you can give some advise. I'm 30, with a promising career and a stable job.
Especially during trying times like isolation, relationships can be devastated by simple, thoughtless things. Bad behavior will ruin your marriage faster than any temptation from the outside. Dr. Romance points out the worst mistakes to make in a marriage. Dr. Romance's 3 ways to ruin your relationship:
If you're lucky enough to be living with someone else while you're isolating to avoid this virus, you may be having some difficulty with being alone together for more time than you're used to. The following guidelines will help you get along better and perhaps even improve your relationship during the pandemic.
Recently, clients have been coming in to Dr. Romance's office with questions about their cell phone use: either it is creating a problem in their relationship, or with getting work done, or even health problems. Here's how to tell if you have cell phone addiction; and what to do about it.
For you men who ask, "What Do Women Want?" Here are Dr. Romance's 10 Things Married Women Want: Women value intimacy, safety for themselves and their children, and emotional connection. Therefore, they long for the following qualities in a man:
I am a 25 year old M.A. student from the Middle East. This year is my final year to have my M.A. degree as a Family specialist to become a family counselor. I saw many things you wrote online as a family and couple therapists and i Loved them all! I was wondering if you could direct me and hear what you have to suggest that I should do after my Masters. Which courses or degrees are best for me to take more to have a wide experience as a family specialist .. And I am considering a PhD. program, which program you would suggest the most? What is your PhD. was about?
After years together, is there a lack of sex in your marriage? Is this negatively impacting your relationship? Have no fear -- it is easy to reboot your sex life at any age. I recommend that couples follow five easy steps to get things going again: First of all, you have to find out what’s going on. Sex is communication, and if the rest of the communication falls apart in your relationship, you won’t be able to get close together to have sex. Follow these tips on how to improve your sex life in marriage:
Dr. Romance's 3 Tips for Finding New Love
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dr. Romance writes: It's easy to get discouraged when we become aware of the suffering throughout the world: natural disasters; racial prejudice; addiction and self-destruction; political oppression in its many forms (starvation, war, torture, misinformation, imprisonment, denial of rights of speech, health and human dignity, and just plain bigotry and nastiness). My own reaction, years ago, was despair. "I can't stand it! So much suffering! So many issues! There's nothing significant I can do."
It’s not always easy to tell which strangers are dangerous, and which are not. Here are some guidelines for protecting yourself and telling the difference. 1. Don’t be alone with a new person too quickly, and don’t go to the other person’s home, or allow him or her in yours, especially if you have children. Get to know someone first away from your home. Rather, meet for coffee or lunch in a public place, or in a group.
And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged…You achieve a wonderful freedom. It is a positive thing. Doris Lessing
Dear Dr. Romance: I've been dating my girlfriend for 5 almost 6 months now. We hit it off from the very beginning and fell in love a couple months into the relationship. Both of us are independent people and level headed, but there's a deep connection between the two of us and the relationship was going GREAT until recently. She even brought up moving in together this summer and I was all for it.
Dr. Romance: More and more people are sharing quarters since the pandemic. Being social distanced all alone is difficult, and financial problems are making roommates seem more desirable. Here's how to set up a situation you'll be glad about.
A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.
Dear Dr. Romance: My partner whom I have been in a relationship with for the past year has changed and let me down twice. We were first friends for several years & became a couple for the last year. We both fell in love instantly and desire to live together to build towards a good future, financially, & with family. We both have children from past relationships & are content with it.
Dear Dr. Romance: I read your article about "Age Differences in Dating" and thought you might be interested in a case history. I was married to a younger man for twenty years.He was 21 and I was 40 when we met.
If your marriage ends in divorce, you lose more than the marriage itself. Even if your marriage had problems, or you were the one who wanted out, you still will have grief over the dreams and hopes which have died with the relationship. The overwhelming feeling of loss can be confusing and difficult to understand. The following tips will help you move through these feelings and begin to focus on the future. 1. Get Support.r
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I wonder if you have an article that you've written that you can point me too on how to let go of a toxic relationship. I've been involved for 7 months with a man who is continually evasive, avoidant-attachment, manipulative and I need to figure out how to let this go. Dear Reader: Yes, I do. It's a problem many people, especially women, have.
Dear Dr. Romance: I am a 49 year old disabled vet, chest injury in pain 24/7. I am on MAJOR pain pills. Have not had sex with wife since one day I pulled her pants down and found a river of a substance that looked like human ejaculate but smelt like beer. Six months later she said it was a female discharge, I have checked with three nurses all have said it had to be ejaculate.
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.
Dear Dr. Romance: I am new to the entire single scene. Recently I met someone and after a couple of dates, he started to email me with a lot of sexual inquires. I ignored some of it and sometimes I would put a little tease in the reply. When he started getting more vulgar I want this and I want to do this...I emailed him back and told him I was very uncomfortable and wanted to take time to get to know him better.
Dr. Romance: Should you stay in your marriage? Marriage can be frustrating and disappointing, especially if you don't have the skills to fix it. But giving in to the frustration and leaving may turn out to be the worst thing you ever did. Consider these reasons to stay:
A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.
What can divorced dads do to help raise healthy, successful boys when they don't see their sons as often as they want? Here are some tips for non-custodial fathers who want to make certain they raise successful men. 1. Stay connected with your boy. Find a way to get over the differences with your ex, and make time with your son a priority. 2. Don't just be a good-time dad. Help with homework, spend time just hanging out so you can listen to him. 3. Show him what responsibility means. Take him to your work with you and get him to help you with projects.
Thank you Dear Dr Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I'm really confused about a guy I know online from a social site, he's ten years older tha I am. We've been in contact for several months. We now live in different countries. Recently, our chatting got intense and he told me that he likes me. We planned to meet up in another country. But he was suddenly never online and never contacted me even by email. I was really devastated.
Dr. Romance gets a lot of letters about older women dating younger men, which appears to be shocking to some people, but I don't find it so unusual.
When a relationship that probably began in hope and joy has ended in failure, grief and pain, It's very understandable to be conce ed about repeating an action that was so hurtful. Here are some Happiness Tips for recovering from divorce. Dr. Romance’s 3 tips for letting go of the pain of divorce
Dear Dr. Romance:
Kindness is the lubrication for life, love and relationships. When you spread kindness, it comes back in many ways, and it’s the foundation of happiness. "Dr. Romance" shows how kindness works and why it’s important to learn to live kindly, even in today’s cynical age. Dr. Romance on spreading kindness Spreading kindness is the best way I know to be happy. If you want to spread kindness around, here are some ideas:
Dear Dr. Romance I am mindful that I am allowing my soon to be controlling, narcissist ex (civil law atto ey) to run circles around me, just as we did when we were married. After attending a divorce group session at my local church, they recommend that I set up some specific boundaries and rules of engagement with him. He texts me hours a day, while I'm trying to work. Do you have anything in your arsenal to send me to get this jumpstarted?
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dear Dr. Romance: I'm having major anxiety about the guy I'm dating. I wanted to talk with him, but I lost my strength when I asked about his ex and he gave me an answer like, "There are things you need to know and things you don't need to know and when things don't affect you, you don't need to know them."
Dear Dr. Romance: I saw your website and decided to write you via e-mail. The reason being is that my love for the past three years has left me and I now am trying to afford the house and dogs and everything else we bought together with one income.
Dear Dr. Romance:
Dr. Romance writes: It seems logical that like would attract like, but in my private practice as a marriage counselor and psychotherapist, I often see people drawn to their opposite because it's new and exciting.