Marriage Counseling Insights brought to you by California Psychotherapeutic Resources, Inc.

In the United States and other Western European countries, society once had rigid rules. Men, women and children had certain roles, responsibilities and duties. People knew what they were and they generally adhered to them. Many countries still live by these traditional concepts.

But today, people in the U.S. and elsewhere have moved away from many traditions and developed what is known as a network society. That move grants greater freedom but there is a cost to this freedom. In particular, one aspect of a network society is that people feel free to revoke a commitment at any moment. All rules have become negotiable.

In addition, today we demand from love and work what we once demanded from religion and community. And demanding more from love — from intimate relationships — can set us up for either the creation of an amazingly fulfilling relationship or… failure. So, in our complex society in which we make perhaps unrealistic demands of a relationship, is it possible to find the perfect relationship? Or is it more beneficial and accurate to ask — is it possible to create the perfect relationship? Watch Esther Perel discuss this complex subject.