Today we're discussing conflict spirals, or what happens when you're arguing with a partner and it's no longer productive, you're exhausted, and you just want things to be over with. We're talking about how to stop that spiraling conflict, soothe yourself, and get back to a place where you can co-regulate with your partner instead of getting trapped in the same spiral again and again.
Read MoreToday we're revisiting the topic of marriage and non-monogamy, talking about why you might want to get married, why you might NOT want to get married, and some considerations you might want to discuss with a partner if you're non-monogamous.
Read MoreToday we're welcoming back Emily Nagoski to talk about her newest book, Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections.
Emily is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Come As You Are, and coauthor, with her sister, Amelia, of New York Times bestseller Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. Her next book, Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections will be out in January 2024.
Emily earned an M.S. in counseling and a Ph.D. in health behavior, both from Indiana University, with clinical and research training at the Kinsey Institute. Now she combines sex education and stress education to teach women to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies. She lives in Massachusetts with two dogs, a cat, and a cartoonist.
This week we're taking some time to explore what happens when life's demands and outside stressors take a toll on even solid relationships. Things like busy schedules, financial woes, health issues, or other obligations can absolutely limit the time and energy you have for a relationship. We’ll be discussing strategies for collaborating through life’s ups and downs, keeping communication strong, getting creative with quality time, and more in today's episode.
Read MoreToday, we're talking about the quality of relationships, and not necessarily romantic ones, and how they can have significant positive effects on your mental, emotional, and physical health. We'll talk about some research findings and discuss some practical ways you can make positive change in all your relationships.
Read MoreToday's episode we're revisiting difficult conversations. In any relationship, there are often hard, emotional, or awkward conversations that we tend to avoid. Whether we're working through a conflict, setting boundaries, making a request, disclosing information, tackling a taboo topic, etc., it helps to understand why we have inhibitions when it comes to these discussions. We're going to talk today about the maladaptive ways we might try to get out of conversations we deem uncomfortable and some better ways to tackle them instead!
Read MoreThis week, we're talking about annoyances and deal breakers in terms of relationships. We're exploring the possibility that in this age of online dating, maybe we've all become a little too picky about our potential partnerships, and that could be causing us to miss out on or prematurely cast aside some really wonderful connections! We'll be discussing deal breakers, perpetual problems, and the concept of "the price of admission."
Read MoreWe as humans we love novelty, and when our relationships become complacent and repetitive, it can negatively affect them. However, we also crave stability and predictability in our lives and in our relationships, and feeling safe is important. It's because of this duality that we're looking at how rituals can be a benefit to your relationships, exploring some of the research, and discussing some ways that you can incorporate them into your life in a way that is the most beneficial to your relationship health and wellbeing.
Read MoreWe're having our first Q&A episode in the new year with Dr. Zhana Vrangalova! During this episode, we learn a little about Dr. Zhana's work and answer some questions posed by our Patreon supporters.
Dr. Zhana Vrangalova is a relationship scientist, consultant, and NYU adjunct professor of human sexuality. She’s a world-renowned expert in nonmonogamy and the creator of Open Smarter™, an online course that guides couples and individuals to identify and navigate the relationship type best suited for their unique personality and life circumstances.
She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, and her scholarly work on nontraditional relationship styles has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @drzhana, and join her FREE Training on Open Relationships to discover your ideal relationship style.
Read MoreWe talk a lot about handling breakups in romantic relationships, but we haven't talked much about friendship breakups. In this episode, we're discussing some reasons why friendships end, research and statistics on friendship breakups, whether or not reconciliation is appropriate or possible, and of course, how to get through the difficult experience of you and a friend parting ways.
Read MoreAuthor and professor Carrie Jenkins joins us this week to discuss her newest book, Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning, and some of the principle themes in it. She goes into detail about questioning the relationship between happiness and love, eudaimonic love, "lovecrafting," and more.
Carrie Jenkins is an author and philosophy professor who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam First Nations. Carrie’s first novel, Victoria Sees It, was published in 2021 by Penguin Random House Canada, and shortlisted for the Frye Academy Award XIII and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her non-fiction books include What Love Is and What It Could Be (Basic Books, 2017) and Sad Love: Romance and the Search For Meaning (Polity, 2022).
Today's episode is guaranteed to spark strong opinions. We're discussing relationship anarchy: can it be practiced in monogamy or is it a contradiction of terms? We'll be looking at some of the core components of relationship anarchy and how they can be applied in order to improve our relationships and work against the various normative systems that cause so many to be hurt, disenfranchised, or disempowered.
For some more background and a deeper dive into relationship anarchy, check out Episode 150: Relationship Anarchy 101, and Episode 339: The Smorgasbord of Relationships.
Today we're joined by Michael Kaye, head of communications at OKCupid! We're thrilled to have Michael join us to discuss online dating, how it has changed over the years and over the course of the pandemic, give some specific online dating advice and insight about dating trends, and answer some questions from our listeners about non-monogamous dating on OkCupid.
Find more of Michael at @MichaelKayePR and @OkCupid on Instagram and Twitter respectively.
OKCupid has also been generous enough to offer free premier subscriptions to Multiamory listeners! Listen to the end of the episode to find out how to get access to your free premier membership!
We have another episode about stress to share with you! Today's episode is a discussion on what stress is and how it can affect your partnerships, particularly if there is a disproportionate amount of it between partners. At the end of the episode, we will go over some ways to alleviate stress and promote healthier partnerships.
Read MoreToday we're talking about love addiction! Love addiction is a bit of a controversial term to begin with, so today we're going to go over what addiction even is, how addictive behaviors can manifest in relationships, and the differences between healthy polyamory and love addiction.
Read MoreThis week we're looking at conflict in relationships, what you can do to make sure conflict isn't negatively affecting your relationship, some research on it and some ways we can apply these lessons to our everyday lives, whether that's in a romantic relationship or another type of relationship. We'll be looking at some common patterns of unhealthy conflict, some specific research studies on it, and some actionable takeaways to improve how we can do better when engaging in conflict.
Read MoreWe talk a lot about prioritizing not only romantic and sexual relationships, but also friendships. Today's episode is digging into some of the research and techniques about fostering healthy friendships. In turn, these ideas can help you improve romantic relationships as well by building a better foundation of communication with your partner(s).
Read MoreSometimes, we carry over trauma from a bad relationship into a good one, and this can make it difficult to have a fulfilling and happy relationship, even if it's with a good person. This episode discusses how PTSD and past baggage can show up in current relationships, how otherwise healthy behavior can be unsettling or confusing if you’re used to a toxic relationship, and as always, some actionable takeaways for recovering from trauma and building healthier relationships.
Read MoreToday is all about building and maintaining trust in relationships. We're discussing what it means to trust your partner, the process of establishing that trust, and if trust is breached, what you can do to make sure it is reestablished, and more on today's episode.
Read MoreWe've done episodes about de-escalating relationships or decoupling them, but this week we're talking about the opposite! We're discussing what it looks like when a relationship becomes more entangled, like going from friends to lovers, from friends with benefits to more romantic partners, etc., as well as the emotional, social, and logistical aspects of increasing our levels of entanglement with others.
Read More
