Getting Closer: Understanding and Treating Issues in Marital Intimacy

by Daniel Schonbuch

It is estimated that fifty percent of couples struggle with problems associated with sexual dysfunction at some point during their marriage. Despite much Talmudic writing on the topic of the physical relationship between husband and wife, Orthodox Jews may be reluctant to seek professional advice. Some may fear that secular mental health professionals will disregard the integrity of a couple s shalom bayis or advise them to explore their sexual feelings in ways that contradict Jewish law. In Getting Closer , Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch, MA, a marriage and family therapist who specializes in counseling Orthodox couples, takes the shame out of the issue of sexual dysfunction and explores the causes and solutions from a psychological and medical perspective. He tackles rarely discussed topics in the Orthodox world * Internet addiction * Sexual abuse * Unconsummated marriages * Low-desire disorders * Dyspareunia * Fear of intimacy * Infertility * Postpartum depression . . . and more. In Getting Closer , Rabbi Schonbuch calls upon the revolutionary principles of Attachment Theory and the techniques of Emotionally Focused Therapy to create a strategy that has proven to help resolve a wide range of issues in marital intimacy. At once compassionate and insightful, this is a much needed resource for couples, therapists, rabbis and rebbetzins, and all those who deal with problems of sexual dysfunction within the Orthodox Jewish community. Distributed exclusively by Jonathan David Publishers, Inc.

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2013