Passion The Most Vital Missing Ingredient in Relationships

USA (SANEPR.com) March 11, 2008 -- If you believe eHarmony.com, perfectmatch.com and numerous other online websites devoted to finding people the love of their lives, compatibility is the most important factor. However, according to Dr. Carol Cassell, a national leader in the field of sexuality and relationships and author of Put Passion First: Why Sexual Chemistry is the Key to Finding and Keeping Lasting Love (McGraw Hill, Feb 08), passion is the most important overlooked and undervalued aspect of a love relationship.
“Passion is that intangible and potent fusion between the sizzle of sexual chemistry and the calmer, loving feelings of being emotionally connected to your partner,” explains Cassell. “Being passionately in love rocks your world like nothing else. It is an erotic, sensual, vulnerable, volatile, euphoric emotion that hijacks the soul, the mind, and the body. What sets off that chain reaction of falling passionately in love is an inexplicable magnetism—an invisible force, like electricity.

“I uncover the real reasons why people fall in and out of love the way they do, what makes a relationship click, and the fallout from men and women looking at sex and commitment through different lenses,” explains Cassell. “On the flip side, I don’t shy away from facing up to the dark side of love—why we feel jealous and why we cheat—to help women avoid those silent killers of relationships.”
Carol Cassell, Ph.D. is the president of The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Western Region. She is well-known for her nationwide work with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the prestigious CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). She has been featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, numerous radio shows and in newspapers around the country, including The New York Times. Cassell is the author of several books, including: Swept Away: Why Women Confuse Love and Sex; Tender Bargaining: Negotiating an Equal Partnership with the Man You Love, has received every top honor in her field as an advocate of healthy sex education.