A respectful, erotic, uplifting, and spiritual guide to sexual and emotional fulfillment. Has sex with your partner become routine or unfulfilling? Can you say just what you want in bed or let your partner really see you during an orgasm? Spicing up your love life involves more than mood music and clever techniques. Every sexual exchange, from kissing to daring erotic behaviors, is a picture of your entire relationship--a reflection of how you and your partner feel about yourselves, and each other, outside the bedroom. As renowned sex and marital therapist David Schnarch reveals in this revolutionary book, keeping passion and intimacy alive requires facing the anxiety of defining yourself while getting closer to your partner. Sexual encounters provide perfect opportunities to do this and to develop the strength to love deeply. Mixing humor and compassion, Schnarch describes couples' explicit sexual encounters and dramatic therapy sessions to demonstrate how they found personal, marital, and sexual fulfillment far greater than they ever dreamed possible. He goes beyond simply curing sexual dysfunctions to help people achieve their sexual potential. In this invigorating look at adult sex, he seeks to bring out the best in each of us. Couples therapists often specialize in one or the other--sex or the relationship. It's a ridiculous separation says marital and sex therapist David Schnarch, who believes sex is the all-telling barometer of a love relationship. Schnarch's fundamental lesson is differentiation--the often threatening process of defining yourself as separate from your partner, which inevitably draws you closer to your partner than you ever dreamed possible. Schnarch uses dramatic therapy sessions to illustrate how differentiation doesn't just cure sexual dysfunction; it helps couples reach the mind-blowing heights of their sexual potential. A groundbreaking and truly erotic discussion of adult sexuality. Living in a "dead" relationship? Want to make it more passionate? More intimate? More loving? Schnarch (Constructing the Sexual Crucible, Norton, 1991) takes the reader behind the scenes as couples describe similar feelings as well as their explicit sexual encounters during dramatic therapy sessions. The book is divided into three sections. The first section gives the reader a framework for understanding his or her existing relationship so that it can grow. The second section gives detailed instructions on ways to make sex better and more intimate. The last chapters show how sex and intimacy operate together in marriage. A potentially useful guide; recommended for larger well-circulating self-help collections.?Marty Dean Evensvold, Magnolia P.L., Tex. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. With "Passionate Marriage," Dr. David Schnarch has given clinicians a fresh approach to the treatment of sexual dysfunction in couples in a new, highly readable volume....Using the more academic book, "Constructing the Sexual Crucible," as a foundation, Schnarch has managed, quite successfully, to provide a prominent tome for therapists combined with a sophisticated "how to" guide for the lay public....[A]n encyclopedia of information for all couples struggling with interdependence.... [I]t is a timely '90s-style marriage and sex manual for clinicians and their patients that deserves to be read and used. -- Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, Sharon Smith, PhD, 1998, 10/1 [A]t the top of my very short list of must-reads…[A] book to be underlined, dog-eared and carried around for weeks. -- Janet Carlson Freed, Town & Country As renowned sex and marital therapist David Schnarch reveals in this revolutionary book, keeping passion and intimacy alive requires facing the anxiety of defining yourself while getting closer to your partner, a process called differentiation. In his sexual crucible approach, you don't have to compromise or give up your desires; instead, you have to stand on your own, stay close to your partner, and be prepared to soothe yourself when you don't get what you want. Sexual encounters provide perfect opportunities to differentiate and develop the strength of love deeply. Mixing humor and compassion, Schnarch describes couples' explicit sexual encounters and dramatic therapy sessions to demonstrate how they found personal, marital, and sexual fulfillment far greater than they ever dreamed possible. In this respectful, erotic, uplifting, and spiritual guide to sexual and emotional fulfillment, David Schnarch seeks to bring out the best in each of us, to help us love on life's terms, and to revel in invigorating adult sexuality. David Schnarch , PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and certified sex therapist, directs the Marriage and Family Health Center in Evergreen, Colorado. He is the author of Constructing the Sexual Crucible and Resurrecting Sex .