Consensual Nonmonogamy
Consensual nonmonogamy involves partners who decide to open their relationship with care, honesty, and as much self-awareness as possible. For clinicians, clients who choose to pursue these multilayered forms of commitment often bring new and unique challenges to therapy.
These pieces follow clients navigating “monogamish” arrangements, polyamorous experiments, and “new monogamy” agreements. They explore how to negotiate boundaries, talk explicitly about sex and intimacy needs, and work skillfully with the jealousy, insecurity, and power dynamics that open relationships sometimes bring to the surface. Clinicians will find language for helping partners design structures that protect vulnerability and center consent and disclosure.
When opening a relationship, the agreement-making process is far more important than the agreements themselves. Read more
A botched foray into polyamory leaves a woman feeling more singularly herself. Read more
Despite a cultural environment that’s often hostile toward nonmonogamy, an increasing number of couples are considering it. How can therapists help them... Read more
Playing a traditional boardgame in a nontraditional romantic arrangement. Read more
Many people assume that an open relationship will cause jealousy in both partners. Historically, it has been assumed that pair-bonded individuals who are... Read more
In past decades, the only alternatives to involuntary celibacy in a relationship were affairs or divorce. But more and more therapists are recognizing... Read more
While many therapists are skeptical of open relationships, some believe that, with the right couple, they can work. Read more
Whether we like it or not, today's couples feel far less encumbered by the legal, social, and moral strictures of traditional marriage and its obligations... Read more
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