In the early years of her marriage, Joan*, now 57, enjoyed a life full of her three children’s activities, building a business with her husband and community engagement as a business owner in Bethesda, Maryland. But as her children left the house, the lack of emotional connection with her husband troubled her more and more.
“I wanted to save this marriage so much. I did not want to be divorced,” she recalls. At the same time, she says: “I would fall asleep in tears and wake up in tears. I was miserable. I was not getting my needs met at all.”
