ABSTRACT
This article examines the psychodynamic patterns that (1) inevitably result in a dysfunctional relationship and divorce, and (2) those necessary understandings and prerequisites which are essential for a healthy long term relationship. These themes include: how to assure a divorce, romance as the urge to merge, the role of the Trickster, the template of the Imago, understanding Transference, the Key to Happiness, how to get unstuck and some comments on loneliness and sex. It concludes with a new understanding as to ‘Why get married?’
This chapter examines the psychodynamic patterns that inevitably result in a dysfunctional relationship and divorce, and those necessary understandings and prerequisites which are essential for a healthy long-term relationship. The themes include how to assure a divorce, romance as the urge to merge, the role of the Trickster, the template of the Imago, understanding Transference, the Key to Happiness, how to get unstuck and some comments on loneliness and sex. The purpose of bonding with an other or sharing an intimate relationship like marriage is to heal the emotional damage which occurred in a person as children. Sociological data show a direct line inverse correlation between age of marriage and percentile chances of getting divorced. Sigmund Freud, a model for knowing oneself, reminds that romantic love is a ‘transient psychosis’. To understand divorce, the crazy reasons people get into romantic relationship and end up married are considered.
