The 5 Stages of Intimacy in a Relationship

This guest article from YourTango was written by Zoe Hicks. I want to preface this by saying that although there are no typical couples, there do tend to be intimacy stages in a relationship. Within the grief process, according to the Kübler-Ross model, we have denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages do not always happen in this particular order. We may have anger, then denial, then acceptance, then bargaining, and then depression — then circling back around to acceptance. Grief and intimacy seem to be made of the same fabric — the intensity, the dullness, the gains, and the loss all mirror one another. So without further ado, I bring you my five stages of intimacy in a relationship. The 5 Stages of Intimacy 1. Infatuation. “OMG, I just met the love of my life.” “He is perfect. I want to marry him.” “I can’t believe we have so much in common.” “He is great in bed.” “I cannot wait to see him again.” “Oh I should eat something. I am going to vomit.” Oh, the sweet, syrupy stage of infatuation. It’s so wonderful and so difficult to resist. Hormones and logic rarely coincide, so we find ourselves doing things like checking email 12-24 times an hour, not eating, going to get our nails done at midnight, buying pajamas to match our bedsheets… Infatuation makes your dopamine levels soar, producing a full-body euphoria that causes humans to seek o...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: General Relationships YourTango Autonomy Billions Brain Scan Denial Anger Bargaining Dopamine Levels Euphoria Grief Process Guest Article Heroin Hormones Infatuation Intensity Intimacy Relationship Kubler Ross Orgasm Pa Source Type: blogs