To tell you that the experiences gained from working with Masters and Johnsons for as many years as we did were invaluable, would be an understatement. Their professionalism, tenacity, and daring curiosity for the subject matters they ventured to study left a lasting mark on both Lori Galperin and myself. Their work and dedication has continued to inform our research, processes, and therapeutic style to this day.
The building where Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson conducted research into human sexuality in the 70s and 80s looked a lot like a physicians’ office. Privacy and professionalism reigned. Clients worked their way past a conscientious and well organized receptionist, through locked doors, intercoms, and buzzers as they were escorted to their therapy session. Even the name on the door would never belie what went on behind it: Reproductive Biology Research Foundation.
Dr. Masters often said that one must be “beyond reproach”—meaning, that those of us who worked with sexuality daily were at risk of seeming lascivious, so we combatted that by being hyper-professional and “squeaky clean.” Everyone wore a white lab coat and addressed each other by formal name (Dr. Schwartz or Mrs. Bowen) or — oddly — three initials (WHM and VEJ). Nobody inside those doors had sex with one another unless they were married. There was no flirting. The names of couples attending therapy were kept extremely private.
Occasionally the institute conducted research on fertility and the effectiveness of birth control, which required a supply of sperm samples. Paid donors, mostly medical students from Washington University, were warned to be mature and discrete or risk being banned from the program. They disappeared quietly into an otherwise sterile bathroom with a few issues of Playboy and a collection cup. (more…)
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Dr. Mark Schwartz has spent more than 30 years studying human intimacy. Interning at the famed Masters and Johnson’s Institute right out of college, Dr. Schwartz went on to become the leading director of the Institute until it closed in the late ’90s, having worked closely for years with William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson. Masters and Johnson pioneered research into the structure of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of human sexual and intimacy disorders and dysfunctions. (more…)
Learn MoreListen in on Mark and Lori as they discuss the common pitfalls of broken relationships and how couple’s therapy can make all the difference in the world.
During the past 25 years, Dr. Mark Schwartz and Lori Galperin MSW, formerly of the Masters & Johnson’s Institute, have provided relationship therapy for hundreds of couples. Their extensive experience, across a broad array of issues, has taught them what is necessary for couples therapy and a marriage-saving, marriage retreat to be its most effective.
Marriage is a valuable asset. There are key reasons people marry and hope to stay married. From within a marriage, lives and careers are built, property and security is accumulated, children are created, and the deep desire for pair-bonding — the instinct we have for support, companionship, and love — is one of the greatest, life-enhancing benefits of all.
When a marriage begins to fall apart, so do all the stabilizing, nurturing forces in one’s life begin to fall apart. Before spending years unhappy and miserable for before taking that “no return” step through a divorce, consider if it’s worth saving. If even a tiny percentage of you says, “yes,” enroll the two of you in an Intensive Marriage Retreat immediately.
First, both partners must learn new ways of interacting. They must master skills for solving problems, listening, dealing with anger, frustration and passivity, and they must learn how to participate in quality interactions.
Second, they must practice these new ways of interacting until deep and authentic change takes place.
Third, they must be guided to examine the places where they are stuck or blocked that interfere with this change.
Rarely does once-a-week therapy allow for these three criteria to be met, regardless of how long over time the therapy continues. Momentum matters in therapy. The “right frequency” of sessions is critical to long-lasting success. (more…)
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Can a retreat re-create love when a couple no longer feels the passion? When marriage therapy fails, is that a sign that the couple is better off apart? Is it better that a couple divorce rather than remain together in distress?
These and many similar questions bewilder couples, and yet there are clear answers to each of these questions, says Dr. Mark Schwartz and Lori Galperin, MSW, relational co-therapists for the past 30 years. Schwartz and Galperin were trained by the infamous William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson of the Masters & Johnson Institute and are co-directors of the Marriage Therapy Institute in Monterey, California. The Monterey Bay Area being one of the most beautiful settings available nationwide for a focused marriage slash relationships tune-up or an intensive “engine overall.”
Therapists recommend that no couple should stay together and make each other miserable. Instead, unhappiness is a critical alert to each individual in the coupledom. It tells the unhappy partner there’s a need to look at his/her own contribution to the problem. From there, the couple needs to establish new rules and contracts for change. (more…)
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