When the emotional climate is intense, a couple may behave like two nervous systems hooked together. Neither party can identify and calmly address the important issues, listen to the other objectively, or take a position without blaming or telling the other what to do. The contagious reactivity between two people can be so high that almost any topic triggers immediate intensity. Within moments both persons are rigidly polarized in opposing camps, unable to consider any viewpoint except their own.
