Couples who were doing fine before COVID-19, and have now decided they should separate, should give the relationship a second chance, a sex therapist advises, following reports of a substantial increase in marital breakdowns during lockdown.
It could be a knee-jerk reaction to the anxiety caused by sudden changes over a short period of time, Matthew Bartolo, founder of Sex Clinic Malta, maintained. These couples could be looking at reducing stress, and their relationship seems to be the safest thing to get rid of.
“When we feel we have too much on our plate, we start looking at what to take off. But giving it a few months may show it is the stress that is making couples feel the relationship is not working, and not the relationship itself.”
However, he continued, if things were better before the pandemic, it could be that the couple has realised the relationship cannot stand alone – without the distraction of working overtime and being away from each other. In this case, COVID-19 may have helped them realise they would be better off apart.
Bartolo was commenting on the findings of a survey by Sex Clinic Malta, carried out during the height of the pandemic at the end of...