Psycho-Emotional Needs

Abstract

The types of intimacy outlined in the previous chapter result from the combined efforts of the two individuals who make up any particular couple. The interpersonal dynamics of their day-to-day dealings determines the quality of their intimacy and stamps a distinctive pattern on it. Before they became a couple they were independently formed individuals albeit strongly influenced by their social environments. Accumulated social experiences before getting together shape each of them as a particular kind of person — confident and assured, or shy and diffident, needing constant reassurance or strongly independent. As such they bring to the relationship certain personal qualities and capacities that inevitably influence the sort of intimacy they achieve as a couple. This chapter examines this aspect of individual development and how it impacts on couple intimacy.