Media

Seven Year Switch is a radical “social experiment” that helps challenged, disconnected, unhappy married couples rediscover their passion, connection, and happiness.

By working closely with Dr. Jessica and her co-relationship expert, participants gain a unique perspective on their real marriage through an accelerated therapeutic approach. Couples are paired with experimental spouses -- who have qualities they think they want in their own spouses -- for an extended period of time to practice communication and negotiation skills, address issues related to trust.  During this time, participants experience increased emotional vulnerability which ultimately provides insight into themselves and their marriages.

The result of this “social experiment” is an accelerated view of both their partners and themselves -- allowing the couples to reset their dynamics and work through the issues that have been blocking them from having the marriages they want -- or decide if their marriage is worth saving after all. Dr. Jessica served as an expert on Seasons 1 to 3 of Seven Year Switch, providing consultation to the cast of the show and to production.

Married at First Sight began as an off shoot of a Danish television program that has since spread all over the world. Originally a reality “docuseries,” it carved out new territory with its emphasis on honest reporting of how American men and women might do if they were placed in an arranged marriage by experts who paired them with guidance by social science research. The audacious idea was that these couples would first meet at the altar, after agreeing to marry a stranger, and be documented as they went, on hyper speed, through all the sequences of a young marriage: the pre-wedding rituals of choosing rings, tuxes, wedding dresses, bachelor/bachelorette parties, getting married through a traditional wedding ceremony and reception, meeting each other’s family and friends,  going on a honeymoon,  moving in together and blending their schedules and lives. The “social experiment” hypothesized that arranged marriage conducted by scientists and therapists might work for people who, for various reasons, had not been able to find a suitable mate themselves. The result has been a fascinating look at marriage and its challenges and at what individuals do wrong or right to help a marriage succeed or fail.  Most of the marriages did not work but some of them have—and in many cases, the individuals were glad they did it and came out of it an improved version of themselves. Dr. Jessica served as an expert (as a psychologist providing consultation to the cast of the show and to production, not as a therapist or couples’ counselor) on MAFS for Seasons 6 through 8 as well as spinoffs of MAFS, Honeymoon Island and MAFS Happily Ever After, on Lifetime Television. As an advocate of science and evidence-based treatment, Dr. Jessica notes that neither Seven Year Switch or Married at First Sight are true scientific experiments (e.g., there is no randomized clinical trial), but social experiments designed by a production company in consultation with experts, all provided within the context of a television show for entertainment purposes.