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in collaboration with
Johanna Rozenblum (clinical psychologist)
Sometimes the little, simple, everyday things can say a lot about your romantic connection. This is the case of a small, almost intuitive gesture that would bring you closer.
Certain everyday gestures are sometimes more meaningful than a declaration to strengthen the emotional bond that binds you to your partner. This is the case of affectionate touch, a gesture that psychology professor Brett Jakubiak deciphers in the Syracuse University News.
Affectionate touch builds intimacy with your partner
So this affectionate touch, which can really be a light touch (a furtive hug, a pat on the back, a caress on the hand, etc.) would have several unexpected virtues in the couple: strengthening intimacy, supporting your partner, sometimes managing conflicts… For the teacher, it allows a deep connection to be established between the two people in a few seconds, reduces stress and reinforces the feeling of security. (To be used, however, only with a consenting person who is not resistant to physical contact! reminds the expert). On a daily basis, adding a few affectionate touches to the relationship would therefore have the power to improve the quality of interactions.
A gesture that comes to us from afar
However, Professor Jakubiak’s discovery would not be surprising. For Johanna Rozenblum, clinical psychologist and member of the expert committee, this is a well-known concept in psychology called holding, revealed in the 1960s by Donald Winnicott, a pediatrician and psychoanalyst.
“He notably theorized that in the psychology of the child, everything that is of the order of the embrace, of the cuddle, will contribute to the reassurance of the child to his attachment, and reduce symptoms of stress. According to the holding, which contributes to a good emotional balance, we can understand that in adulthood these gestures awaken in us what we knew in childhood. And that they allow both to lower our rate of cortisol (the stress hormone) and increase our feeling of reassurance. A tenderness that is thus beneficial to our mental health.”
Slide: Love: 10 affectionate gestures