‘Can a relationship still work without butterflies?’
Ask Roe: ‘Have I built something on a weak foundation? The fact I have doubts makes me worry they must be justified’
Relationship Advice
Read more articles about relationship advice
How do I break up with a friend who talks about me behind my back?
This person used to be nice and caring. Could they be having some mental health issues?
‘My sister has stopped putting in effort with me since she had kids’
Ask Roe: ‘I’m told to call over any time, but I’m starting to question the legitimacy of this apparent open-door policy’
‘I love my four adult children deeply, but they won’t leave home, and I am desperate’
Tell Me About It: ‘I’ve told my partner I am not going to retire. Work might save my sanity’
I worry my sister’s lack of selfishness is damaging her health
Ask Roe: My sister volunteers to help anyone in need, even when she doesn’t like them that much. It’s heartbreaking to see her in constant pain
‘My friend has never been in a relationship with a man and I’d like her to seek professional help’
Tell Me About It: ‘She is confident in her job and socially popular but lacks confidence to date’
‘My husband cheated on me with sex workers, blew up our family, and is now living his best life’
Ask Roe: Choices your husband made have no reflection on your worth, and are entirely a reflection on him
‘I only want a part-time relationship. Can I put my kids through a second marriage break-up?’
Tell Me About It: ‘I am very physically attracted to my husband, and this makes it hard to actually leave’
‘I’m married but have fallen in love with a woman at work’
Ask Roe: ‘Should I try to get counselling for our marriage, or just go with what I feel is right?’
‘My husband was married before and I feel like I’m sloppy seconds’
Ask Roe: How can I trust my husband’s love and commitment, when he has offered it all to someone else before? I am really very scared
‘It’s like my husband has got himself an AI therapist. He says he now feels fully heard’
‘Suddenly there’s no longer just two of us in this relationship, and I now feel very judged by AI’
‘My husband is more emotionally intimate with his female therapist than he is with me’
Ask Roe: ‘I hear them laughing. When I mention this, he says I am invading his privacy by overhearing’
‘I can’t believe I let this wonderful woman slip through my fingers’
Tell Me About It: We had a huge row where I accused her parents of scheming against me
‘My wife lets the children sleep in our bed while I am kicked out to the guest room every night’
Ask Roe: I was away for work for a while and the children started sleeping in our room every night. I feel excluded
‘I recently met a fantastic man through work. He is divorced, but I am married’
‘My husband is a good man. It’s just there is nothing there between us any more’
‘I take hours to orgasm and my husband can’t last that long’
Ask Roe: Our current approach upsets me because I feel my man doesn’t want to continue for my pleasure or orgasm
‘An older man was chatting up my date, I’m humiliated and reluctant to let it go’
Tell Me About It: I actually thought we were in a relationship and I am reluctant to let it go
‘My husband wants our child in mainstream schooling, but I want to look at alternatives’
Ask the Expert: She’s quite artistic, funny and highly emotionally intelligent, but struggles academically at school
‘I’m a man in my 40s and feel like I don’t have any real friendships’
Ask Roe: I always make an effort to fit in, but I worry this is now coming across as desperate
‘My partner keeps asking for an open relationship’
Tell Me About It: ‘He says we are boring and as consenting adults we can expand our sex life into something more exciting’
‘My husband says he just wants to live together as friends’
Ask Roe: ‘He repeatedly reassured me we were not in trouble but now he is saying I am the problem’
‘I don’t know if I trust my husband any more. Should I hire an investigator?’
Tell Me About It: I know when he is not being honest after 30 plus years together
‘I’m very clear on dating apps that I want love. The dates agree initially but then disappear’
Ask Roe: Much to the dismay of my nervous system, situationships seem to have become the default setting
‘I asked the woman in the bookshop on a date and she bolted. I feel mortified’
Tell Me About It: ‘Did I misread what I took as inviting signals?’
‘My partner’s blunt communication style is grating on my nerves. Should we break up?’
Ask Roe: How my partner expresses himself is starting to take from my enjoyment of the relationship. What should I do?
‘My close friend is marrying a good-looking man who uses people – should I say something?’
Tell Me About It: I really love my friend and worry that if I say anything she will be hugely hurt and push me away
‘I have four children and feel overwhelmed all the time’
Ask Roe: At 53, I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I’m stressed, anxious and resentful of taking on more tasks, even if they are essential
‘I’m on the verge of walking away from my friend who seems to be a narcissist’
Tell Me About It: I was aware they had become distant from other friends in the past, but never knew exactly why
‘Our children are grown and I don’t know what is left in our marriage without them’
Ask Roe: If the distance between you feels considerable, that does not necessarily mean the relationship is over
‘Some days I genuinely feel like my life would be happier without my husband’
Tell Me About It: I don’t like my husband right now, and I’m scared I’m moving further from a place of liking him
‘I had an affair and ended my marriage, and I keep obsessing over why’
Ask Roe: I am now in midlife, regretful that I wasted years, and broke my own moral code. I am grieving for many reasons
‘My long-time friend implied to my spouse that I was having an affair’
Tell Me About It: A long-standing pal implied to my spouse that I was seeing other people, which was a complete lie
‘I found it hard to cut my mother off completely, but I had to’
People who have experienced family estrangement share their stories on outcomes from family personality clashes, unsupported mental health struggles and abusive behaviours
‘I’m in my 30s and I want so badly to have a first love, but I am losing hope’
Ask Roe: I want so badly to have a first date, a first kiss, a first love, and am finding it harder with every year that passes to stay hopeful
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