Familiarity is an asset in marriage, but the danger of over-familiarity is on the flip-side. Often, the interaction within couples that are too familiar with each other is characterised by howling, criticising, ignoring, teasing, irritability, being crude, moody, nagging – the list just goes on.

We also meet a lot of unhappy partners who often complain, “I wish my husband or wife would act the way he or she did while we were dating.”  It’s not so much the dating period that is being missed, but the presence of respect. A respect that diminishes with increased familiarity and erodes when over-familiarity sets in...