In Don’t Bury an Ailing Marriage, veteran psychologist Dr. Don D. Campbell goes beyond surface reasons for most relationship problems—such as poor communication, financial issues, or sexual dysfunction—to diagnose the underlying causes of marital discord that prevent couples from achieving the happiness and fulfillment they desire and deserve. Several ailments and viruses are identified, but from among them Dr. Campbell identifies the most common and damaging virus of all—a fear of closeness. He explains how the Fear of Closeness Virus is the underlying root for most symptoms within ailing marriages as well as how to effectively treat it to sustain emotional and physical intimacy through the years.
The abundant information in the book is delivered with a sense of humor and illustrative stories as well as helpful Prescription Pads—a series of exercises at the end of each chapter to help the reader apply the doctor’s advice and take proactive steps for positive change.
Resist the temptation to call the mortician (lawyer) and prepare for the funeral (divorce). For virtually any marriage, regardless of its current state, put the shovel away—it’s not too late to resuscitate!
Life is easy and joyful! If you don’t agree with this statement, reading this book will help you change your mind. If you already view life to be easy and joyful, then it is my goal to help you to understand why you have found it to be this way.
Whatever your current circumstances, now is an ideal time to take stock of how you are doing in life. Without regularly assessing your situation, you will miss out on a lot that life has to offer, and you may miss out on the most important thing in life—your own happiness! Having an abundance of love is what contributes most to being happy, and having a loving marriage contributes most to having an abundance of love in your life. My intention is to help you find the happiness and the abundance of love you deserve through a loving marriage.
Although marriages generally start out full of love and happiness, most marriages become ailing relationships in which two people simply do their best to cope with one another. After being a happily married clinical psychologist for over three decades, I have learned from both personal experience and from my practice in therapy why most marriages end up diseased or even terminally ill, and it is not due to reasons most marriage and family books tell us. Many of these sources only give surface excuses for marital failures. The real source of marital problems is found deeper within. In my experience, the principal cause for marital failure is a fear of closeness. When a relationship is diseased with an underlying fear of closeness in one or both individuals, many other symptoms will appear (e.g., communication problems, lack of affection, incessant arguing, etc.), and it is easy to mistake these surface ailments as the underlying causes of divorce.
"Don’t Bury An Ailing Marriage: It’s Not Too Late to Resuscitate" is designed to help individuals overcome their fears of closeness and sustain feelings of romantic love coupled with emotional and physical intimacy through the years. The practical, no-nonsense approach in this book sings to the souls of those who always knew in their hearts that romantic love can last throughout decades and those who yearn for it no longer have to settle for simple “compatibility” or mediocre relationships. Indeed, they can resuscitate their relationships and make them better than they have dreamed possible.
Don D. Campbell, PhD, has been a licensed clinical psychologist treating couples with relationship diffi culties since 1973, while also establishing full-time private practices in both the Midwest and Southern Ca lifornia. His professional experience and knowledge in evaluating and successfully treating dysfunctional relationships is widely respected by his peers and by countless couples he has helped throughout the years. Happily married to his wife, Jane, for over thirty-four years and a father to nine children, his life experience has also contributed to his wealth of knowledge of love and healthy relationships. His mission in his private practice and in writing Don’t Bury an Ailing Marriage is to help as many as possible to enjoy love and life as much as he has. Dr. Campbell currently has a full-time private practice in Carlsbad, California. In his leisure time he enjoys public speaking, playing chess and having fun with his grandchildren.