Psychologist on How to Keep Things Fresh in Marital Relationships during the Quarantine (Exclusive)

In an exclusive conversation with AmoMama, Dr. Viktor Vus shared some of his recommendations for keeping a healthy relationship with your family members during the quarantine.

Dr. Vus, a Ph.D. holder in Psychology and editor-in-chief of the Mental Health: Global Challenges journal who previously commented on Mariah Carey's relationship with her estranged sister, pointed out that eternal love exists.

"Familiarize yourself with the Chinese treatises on love."

IMPACT OF SELF-ISOLATION IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

However, the idea of finding endless pleasure from relationships is an "archetype" of human beings. Achieving such a thing is particularly harder during quarantine as people are forced to interact with their family members 24/7.

After some time, you might stop looking at the habits and behavior of your spouse through rose-colored glasses. Instead, the boredom, fatigue, and repetitiveness could make you see things through "magnifying glasses," revealed Dr. Vus.

While self-isolation is advised amid the coronavirus pandemic, it creates two situations: the absence of a "social mirror," which is especially damaging for extroverts, and the lack of time and space for privacy, which negatively affects introverts.

OUR EXPERT'S RECOMMENDATIONS

To fight this, one of our expert's recommendations to keep a healthy relationship with your spouse and family members is to make a daily routine for yourself.

Giving a structure to your daily activities will make you feel a sense of rhythm, stability, and control over life events. As a result, it will provide a sense of psychological safety and security.

The following advice that Dr. Vus shared was to take part in family rituals and traditions. Implementing simple things, like morning exercises and family dinners, will bring "novelty" to your life.

GIVE YOUR MARRIAGE A "NEW BREATH"

Performing joint activities will provide you with a sense of psychological "unity" and "community," which, in turn, will become the much-needed rest and distraction from your everyday life.

One of those joint activities that you and your spouse could do is to learn new things. As a suggestion, Dr. Vus said that, since the virus came from China, you could maybe study and implement the Chinese tea culture in your family. He added:

"Study not only the Indian Kama Sutra but also familiarize yourself with the Chinese treatises on love. This will open a new breath in your marital relationship."

CIARA REDISCOVERED HER PASSION

Finally, Dr. Vus said that you should consider this quarantine as a time for introspection and planning. Singer Ciara, for example, rediscovered one of her passions while in self-isolation.

On April 4, she uploaded a slideshow with four pics of her son, Future, and daughter, Sienna, having a great time together. Their braids were the highlight of the post.

For the caption, Ciara admitted that she had always loved braiding and that, in fact, she wanted to own hair salons when she was younger.

Even though the singer and her family are safe and sound, not all celebrities can say the same. One of the globally famous singers who tested positive for coronavirus was Pink.

In an Instagram post shared on April 3, she revealed that her three-year-old son Jameson had also contracted the virus, but that both of them were now fine.

Following her experience with COVID-19, Pink made two $500,000 donations: the first one to the Temple University Hospital Emergency Fund in Philadelphia and the second one to the City of Los Angeles Mayor's Emergency COVID-19 Crisis Fund.

Other celebrities like Tom Hanks, Idris Elba, Kristofer Hivju, Rachel Matthews, Debi Mazar, Chuck Billy, Pink, and Rudy Golbert also tested positive.

As of April 7, more than 1,410,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the world. Out of them, more than 81,000 people have died.

The World Health Organization (WHO) urges people to follow some protective measures against the new coronavirus, including washing their hands frequently, keeping social distancing, and avoiding touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.