text: This is not a fake, made-up situation.  As a retired therapist, I've seen this time and time again. Although I don't believe counselling or therapy is the answer for every human problem, in this instance some sessions with an experienced couples counsellor to clarify the issues, to translate each partner to the other, and to improve their communication would be the best preventive medicine.  Alternatively, it could reveal that they are fundamentally unsuited to each other and they might have to accept they made a mistake and move on. I've known couples who had a disastrous start to their marriage, followed by a rocky few years, but twenty years later are thriving, having learned to see things through their partner's eyes, to empathize, and to put coupledom ahead of short term individual interest (which can be maintained and even enhanced in a good relationship).