How to Fix Your Marriage Intimacy Problems

Marriage.com Editorial Team

Expertise: Relationship & Marriage Advice

The Marriage.com Editorial Team is a group of experienced relationship writers, experts, and mental health professionals. We provide practical and research-backed advice on relationships. Our content is thoroughly reviewed by experts to ensure that we offer high-quality and reliable relationship advice.

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Updated: 19 Mar, 2026

Table of Contents

Stop pushing to fix intimacy problems; practice patience and understanding, be curious, listen without blame, and give each other time to reconnect.
Body insecurities are not real flaws; intimacy goes beyond appearances—accept yourself and your partner, and choose vulnerability to deepen trust.
Jealousy damages closeness; shift toward mutual understanding and shared moments by focusing on communication, empathy, and seeking support to strengthen the bond.

Are marriage intimacy problems gnawing at your relationship happiness?

Meet Mary. Mary has been happily married to her second husband for 4 years, and is raising two children from her previous marriage.

Mary’s first marriage failed miserably. She and her partner were incompatible, but that wasn’t the only reason. Rather than enjoying college life, she chose to get married at 18. Big mistake. And yet, her first marriage taught her valuable lessons on how to survive in a relationship and how to fix marriage intimacy problems instead of running away from them.

Here’s what she learned about overcoming marriage intimacy problems

Stop pushing to fix intimacy problems in your marriage

The moment Mary’s kids were born, her relationship changed completely.

With a newborn to take care of, it’s only natural for a couple to spend less time together. But for her, intimacy was almost non-existent.

Several years later, she noticed a universal trend among men. Push them to do something and they’ll do exactly the opposite (…although, according to Mary, this may very well apply to women as well).

Since she didn’t understand her problems or how to deal with them, she became pushy.

She was constantly nagging about the lack of attention, asking her partner if she was unattractive to him, and even accusing him of cheating. None of these issues were true of course, but it was the only way she knew how to relieve her anxiety and make sure they were still doing alright. She wanted reassurance.

Yes, she was 18 and had a motley of marriage intimacy problems affecting her peace of mind and marital bliss.

And yet, it took another 10 years for her to realize she was actually making matters worse. She now knows that understanding and patience make up the first step of fixing intimacy problems in marriage.

Let go of your insecurities

If you’ve ever been worried about getting naked in front of your spouse, join the club.

Apprehensions about body flaws like cellulite, scars, moles, freckles or visible veins, stretch marks are not really flaws, but since people are obsessed with images of airbrushed, perfect looking bodies, the idea leads to serious marriage intimacy problems between couples.

It’s common for women (and even men!) to feel insecure when getting undressed in the presence of their partner. What’s worse though is that it’s not your clothes that are holding you back; it’s your own fears that keep you from establishing a deep emotional connection with your spouse. After all, if you’re unable to open up, are you truly ready for intimacy?

Lack of intimacy in marriage stems from these unfounded fears about body flaws which are not actually flaws that need any fixing, to begin with.

What Mary realized during her previous marriage is that men don’t really care about muffin tops, saggy skin or other imperfections.

Intimacy between two people goes beyond the shallow walls of your appearance. Embracing this wisdom alone can slay most of the marriage intimacy problems.

Consider Julia Roberts’ famous line in Eat Pray Love: “Have you ever been naked in front of man and he’s asked you to leave?” Unlikely. Insecurity can do more harm than you think. It can cause intimacy issues like resentment, trust issues and overall dissatisfaction with your relationship. No intimacy in marriage weakens the bond that solidifies a marriage.

The solution?

Accept yourself for who you are – life is too precious to spend it worrying about how you look. Maybe easier said than done, but a goal worth striving for.

Don’t let jealousy get the better of you

Don't let jealousy get the better of you

During the first two years of her marriage Mary was consumed with jealousy and that led to a slew of marriage intimacy problems.

It even got to the point where she didn’t speak to her ex-husband for days if he so much as looked in another girl’s direction. Over time, this feeling of jealousy became uncontrollable and affected every part of her relationship. It was a relationship without intimacy. No intimacy in marriage consequences for her were dire. Soon the effects of lack of intimacy in a relationship led to irreconcilable differences, where restoring intimacy in marriage seemed off the table.

They didn’t share many moments of closeness with each other, lack of intimacy crept in and as a result, they drifted apart, with marriage intimacy problems gaining a prominent space in their lives.

The turning point for Mary was a conversation she had with her sister who went through pretty much the same thing. ”There will always be someone more beautiful, more intelligent and more charming than you.

So why waste your time thinking about it?” She was absolutely right.

Intimacy in marriage is not about your appearance or what happens between the sheets. Marital intimacy is about mutual understanding, looking beyond the imperfections of your significant other and ultimately, getting to know each other on a deeper level. A marriage without intimacy turns frail, with intimacy problems replacing love and affection in marriage.

How to overcome intimacy issues

Intimacy problems in marriage include misaligned sex drives, lack of satisfaction, uneasiness during sex or ongoing intimacy disorders due to past fears of abuse or abandonment, or traumatized childhood – all or any of these conditions make it difficult for a person to establish intimacy with their partner.

To answer the question, how to fix intimacy problems in a marriage, it is important to recognize signs of intimacy issues in your marriage or relationship.

If your wife avoids intimacy, or there is no intimacy in marriage from husband, find out how much more there is to learn about the person you’re spending your life with, and you’ll soon discover that jealousy, pushiness and insecurities have no place in a healthy, intimate relationship.

Following these tips on how to bring back intimacy in a marriage and seeking an expert therapist can help you in overcoming fear of intimacy and restoring marriage happiness.

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Marriage.com Editorial Team Relationship & Marriage Advice

The Marriage.com Editorial Team is a group of experienced relationship writers, experts, and mental health professionals. We provide practical and research-backed advice on relationships. Our content is thoroughly reviewed by experts... Read more to ensure that we offer high-quality and reliable relationship advice. Read less