David and Evelyn came to the Berman Center in hopes of saving their twenty-three year marriage. For the past 18 years, much of their physical and emotional energy has gone into caring for their three children, two of whom are severely developmentally disabled. David and Evelyn have both had affairs, and Evelyn's infidelity led to the birth of their third child, who ironically does not suffer any physical or mental handicaps; Terel and Michael have been together for a year and a half, but sex has always been a problem for them due to Michael's premature ejaculation. Dr. Berman helps them see that this problem stems from deeper issues within each of them.
Carlos and his wife Kelli have been together for 12 years and have three young children. They both have full time jobs (Kelli is a nuclear chemist) and with all their responsibilities at work and at home, they rarely find time for each other; Melanie and Brian recently got married, but then had their marriage annulled because of jealousy and anger issues and hurdles they faced in the bedroom. Melanie has extreme body image issues, and has never allowed Brian to see her nude or touch her breasts; Dan and Christie have a volatile relationship and an overactive sex life. They have gone so far as to have sex 30 times in a weekend. They have been together for two years and were even engaged at one time, until their inability to resolve their differences forced them to call off the marriage.
Michael and Jennifer, a young Christian couple, had sex early in their relationship, but then for religious reasons decided to abstain from sex for one and half years until they got married. Now married just over a year, Michael recently found out that Jennifer has never had an orgasm with him and has been faking orgasms. Jennifer finds it hard to take control or tell Michael about her sexual fantasies for fear that he will reject her or find her 'dirty'; Fernando and Lorena have been together since she was 17 and he was 24 and they have a five year-old son. Lorena was raised to believe that sex before marriage was wrong, but when she got pregnant, she accepted responsibility and left college to raise her child with Fernando. Five years later, their relationship is on the brink of collapse; David and Jannette have known each other since they were kids, and have been in love since they can remember. But when they fight, they fight ugly - and there's rarely a moment when they are not fighting these days.
Juan and Georgeana (Geo) have been a couple for four years, but their relationship changed dramatically when Juan, an ex-marine, returned from a tour of duty in Iraq two years ago; Together since they were teenagers, James and Nakia live in Chicago and have been married for eight years. Their relationship has been on the rocks ever since James had an affair with another woman four years ago; Gina and Lee are married with two young children. They used to have a very fulfilling and passionate sex life, but Gina's libido dropped substantially after she had her second child 11 months ago. Now, they fight and argue constantly and Gina's disinterest in sex has left Lee feeling like there's something wrong with him.
Erin and Sarah have been a couple for nearly four years, but they have always struggled with intimacy in their relationship. While they used to have an active sex life, Erin feels that Sarah can't "make love" and that she has never been able to be emotionally intimate; Both successful professionals, Marcus and Tamica are very much in love after two years of marriage, although Marcus is concerned that the decreasing frequency of sex could be a sign of bigger problems in their relationship; Together off and on for seven years, Skot and Katherine want to make their relationship work, but arguments and problems in their sex life keep driving them apart. Growing up, Skot did not have a positive model for how to be in a relationship, and he has a hard time expressing love and communicating what he needs.
Robert and Jeremy, a gay couple from Portland, have been in a tumultuous relationship for three years, and are trying to stay together after breaking up twice. While Jeremy struggles with anger issues, Robert has trouble opening up for fear of getting hurt; Three years into their relationship, Justin and Hilary come to the Berman Center to improve the quality of their sex life. Both are having trouble articulating their sexual needs and desires, and they want their sexual encounters to feel less mechanical; Cher and Lee have been together for two years. Cher's mood swings and Lee's possessiveness have been causing issues in their relationship.
Amelia and Wendy have been a couple for almost 3 years and they hope to get married and have kids someday. However, financial issues and Wendy's diminishing interest in sex have driven a wedge into their relationship. While Amelia has a high sex drive, Wendy is more concerned with emotional intimacy and has lost interest in the physical act of sex; Dan and Leslie live in San Francisco and have been married for two years. When they first met four years ago, Dan aggressively pursued Leslie for many months before Leslie finally fell for him. But Leslie's self-esteem was bruised when Dan stopped making romantic overtures ' and rarely initiated sex 'after winning her heart; Bruce and Michele have been married for seven years. Communication problems and unresolved tensions have built up over the past two years, causing sex and intimacy to dwindle to next to nothing.
Richard and Mary have been married for 29 years and still have sex two times a day. Mary wants the quality of sex to improve and would like her husband to spend more time being intimate without having sex. Richard believes that sex is a physical act that is best performed when disconnected from feelings of love; Mike and Michelle live in Philadelphia and have been married for five years. Two years ago, they nearly divorced after Michelle had an affair with another man. Ever since the affair, Mike has not been able to let go of his anger and pain; Bobby and Rachel are a young couple who've been together for a year. Rachel has a much higher sex drive than Bobby, and she wishes he would initiate sex more often. While Bobby loves Rachel deeply and is often very affectionate, he also tends to withdraw from her physically and emotionally.