April - May 2002 Edition

Passion Fix   After developing a sexual enhancement program for overworked, overstressed couples, Fair Lawn's Carole Pasahow (certified sex therapist, psychoanalyst, marital and family therapist) has been getting a lot of national attention.    Her program has been featured in magazines (including Redbook and Glamour) and she is now working on a book, 'The 21-Day Passion Fix'.   Dr. Pasahow told Fair Lawn News she has treated hundreds of Fair Lawn couples. She said "some of the couples are very religious others are not, but as a whole the Fair Lawn couples possess a strong family and religious/cultural value system, which as a psychotherapist committed to helping these couples, needs to be carefully considered when working with them." She said that compared to couples in other areas "Fair Lawn couples tend to be more committed to the relationship with their partner".   She says "the major cause of marital discord and sexual problems is that the lives of the modern couple have become so complex and stressful that they don't have adequate time together. Their ability to communicate in all areas of their lives, including their sexual, relationship suffers. The partners often feel neglected, tense and irritable with one another, and feel they have lost the romantic/sexual connection.    This is dangerous to the life of any couple. Couples who lack this this emotional/sexual intimacy lose the mortar that they once used to smooth out the rough edges in their lives together."   She said she "helps couples communicate better, resolve differences better, become better friends, develop mutual goals, and most importantly how to bring back the passion in their lives together."   Pasahow developed a '21 Day Passion Fix' program based on provocative encounters -- mental and physical stimulation. "Sex", she says , "begins in the brain, the very area where busy modern couples have shut the process down." In her program, couples pledge to make time for three provocative encounters a week. The first and longest is a 30-minute fantasy encounter (talking, not touching), followed by two physical encounters that last 10 minutes each. "In less than an hour a week, a couple can rediscover the passion they thought they'd lost."   Pasahow told Fair Lawn News that she moved her office to Saddle River Road three years ago from Ridgewood "because of its rich medical community (many of the physicians I work with have offices in Fair Lawn), its strong sense of community and family values, and its exceptional geographical accessibility."