Important changes in the realm of intimacy have been described in light of the processes of social individualization. In this context, this research enquires the meanings and subjective experience regarding couple relationships, focusing in the psychological dimension of intimacy. Life histories from Chilean adult men and women who narrated their couple#039;s history were collected. The results call into question the assumption that this relationship is particularly representative of the domain of intimacy. When talking about couples the interviewees did not talk about intimacy. Instead, they conveyed a sense of fear or threaten, and the avoidance of the other in that realm. Their narratives show that the ideals regarding the couple are -paradoxically- constructed at an individual level, and this results in a way of being in a couple#039;s relationship that we have called "collective monologue".
Intimacy; life stories; individualization
