Civil marriage.

What is a “civil marriage”?

This is when one of the partners’ self-esteem is too low and the thought is in their head: “it’s better this way than alone.”

Or what’s even worse — expectations that are not justified in any way. That someday the partner will be ready for marriage and family. And not to cohabitation.

And the second thing in his head is “why do I need extra responsibility.”

Or fear of intimacy. Or all at once.

Call a spade a spade.

A civil marriage is not a family and it is not a marriage. It’s just meeting, cohabitation, sex.

I had a client who lived in this illusion for many years.

Many live 10 or 20 years. Someone, alas, all his life…

Everyone expects that the partner will fall in love, make a choice, that he will have a sense of responsibility… He lives in eternal anticipation…

My patient’s man was against marriage. He said that “The stamp in the passport means nothing.” And so everything is ok.

She asked him: “If he doesn’t mean anything to you, then what difference does it make whether he is in your passport or not?”

Silence in response… Topic translation…

And she waited for him to “understand.”

Typical cliched phrases of people who, for their own individual reasons, are afraid or do not know how to love.