ABSTRACT
T he decade of the brain was not lost on advances in couples’ therapy. Marital attachment and confl ict are neurobehavioral processes that either help or hurt intimate relationships. In her extensive body of research, Kiecolt-Glaser has shown that marital quality is also a major variable in heath and illness (Kiecolt-Glaser, 2009; Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1998; Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001; Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2003; Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2005; Parker-Pope, 2010). As an extension of communication theory, we might say, all behavior is communication, and all communication is physiological. Perhaps nowhere do body, mind, and spirit come together as powerfully as they do in love and sexual relationships.
