For the past several months, I have been traveling around this country presenting training seminars on the subject of marriage counseling for couples with infidelity. The counselors, psychologists, social workers and clergy with whom I meet are alarmed about a double-barreled crisis threatening the American family.

Couples are telling therapists that they are drowning in a frenetic struggle to earn a living, raise a family and make ends meet. Both single-parent families and two-career couples — both affluent and working class — face burdens that they describe as overwhelming. What is most troubling is that the marriage or partnership is getting lost in this whirlwind of activity.