By Dr. Noelle Sterne

Q: My wife says she doesn’t don’t know me anymore. What should I do?                         

             — Immersed in Dissertation and Estranged

A: You’re knee-deep or, more accurately, file/notecard/article/laptop-deep in your dissertation. You don’t hear anything around you—refrigerator opening, kids tussling, clothes washer whirring. You don’t even hear your name called for dinner. When you come up for air, you realize your partner hasn’t spoken to you for days.