" SEVEN YEAR ITCH?"


Is it a Myth or the Truth? Do some people get the urge to look elsewhere from their relationship at that point of their life?

What do you think?

I believe it to be a truth ..

From what I have seen around me the last few years I tend to agree with you.

Wolfman, off topic but an FYI....you can edit your OP title and change 'Mith' to 'Myth' and get around those typos...within an hour of posting it I think

Thanks, missed that.

I have always read that the human body undergoes a
morphosis every 7 years, so I suppose that could
even trigger the itch.

And you do lose layers of skin..itchy??

I believe it's a truth based in basic biology.


No.
Once you hit puberty you always have the urge to look at people as potential mates.

Once you raise kids to a certain age a certain "love" based lust counteragent isn't as effective, or isn't released as much, inhibiting what causes you to find mates in the first place.

People don't "get" the urge to look elsewhere, they simply aren't inhibited as much against paying attention to what's elsewhere.


Romantic relationships are ultimately about kids, and are primarily driven by far deeper motivations than your conscious decision making self.

If you aren't having kids, you're telling your deeper motives and analytical abilities to go ahead and look for people that will.
If you have kids after a certain amount of time, (4-7 years), the push to have more gets stronger.

Relationships have the greatest longevity when they effect image.
When you come to see your partner as integral to how you see yourself.
People hate change.
People hate to change who they are the most.
Sometimes love of self is mistaken for love for another.
Sometimes fear of change of self image forces rationalizing love for another.

I have heard that too. Need a scratcher???

All you say makes sense. I guess it is up to the individual to cross that line on their own incentives.

I'd categorize it as mostly a myth.

First of all, the reason why the idea of it being "seven years," has nothing to do with careful observation of human behavior over time, and everything to do with the common notion of SEVEN being a lucky or magical number.

The tenuous relationship between that cultural artifact and the so-called "seven year itch," is the result of the VERY common human behavior of wanting to blame selfish behavior on outside forces, or on other people.

What actually happens most of the time, is:

* people get married without really understanding what a huge and pervasive commitment that really is;

* after some number of years waiting for the magic happily ever after stuff to kick in, they half way wake up to the fact that marriage is serious business after all, and often boring as well;

* in a panic, or in an act of pure selfishness, they decide to MAKE the "magic" come true, and since "true love" still has to be "magical," they do it by telling themselves that they were driven to it by forces beyond their control;

* since some jerk in the past, claimed that the magic number seven years, is what happened, and not just them waking up to having been a dumb kid until now, and got away with it;

So the Seven Year Itch gets mutually agreed upon validity.

Hence I'd say it's one part myth, and one part a mutually silently agreed upon conspiracy of jerks.

it's a myth that it takes seven years

Midlife crisis is all too real.

Well spoken and I agree it makes sense.

The number 7 really means nothing. It can happen at any stage, so I totally agree with you.

Too real, and seems to be happening more each year to couples.

I'll let you know IF I ever get married and make it to the 7 year mark.

We will all be waiting to hear Scoober

I don't know whether it's a myth or not but it does happen. Not necessarily in exactly "7 years" though. I believe what happens is, after so many years, couples tend to get comfortable with each other and they stop doing the things they once did when they first started dating. For some, this can become boring so they either end the relationship and/or stray thinking there is something better out there.

The grass is always greener on the other side.