The hitch after the itch.....

Times of India; 26^th January, 2003

Anubha Sawhney, Times News Network

Courtship. Marriage. Honeymoon. And then, been there done that. "I don't enjoy sex with my husband anymore," says Priya Tuli, a market analyst, "There's no excitement left in our relationship." The seven-year-itch in reverse?

"Gone are the days when the concept of the seven-year-itch was limited to men, " points out psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh, MD, "More and more women are outlining how dissatisfied they are with the sexual powers of their husbands and how they would prefer other men.

What was a man's adulterous fantasies in the seven year itch, has today become a way of life. " I think it's unfair to have blamed the men all along," grins Mohit Sharma, a graphic designer, "Who would be able to resist thinking of the voluptuous Marilyn Monroe? Technicalities aside, men are much less prone to being fickle than women.".

Does Mohit have a point? Analyse this. Sex expert Prakash Kothari cites the case of a female patient who expressed her frustration at her husband's lack of interest in foreplay, "She gave me a month's time to talk to him, after which she claimed she would not think twice before having an affair," he elaborated.

Medical men call this condition the Coolidge Effect which by definition, is the situation of a couple married for some time no longer finding each other sexually attractive. That a relationship suffers after the initial euphoria of marriage is now an inevitable reality.

Psychiatrist Samir Parikh, MD, suggests counselling and enhanced communication as the best way to prevent the knot from coming apart. So, even if there is no itch after seven years, all it takes to understand your spouse is scratch below the surface. Yes that might in shining amour could be just an intimate pillow talk away.