Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist, author and host of the upcoming Dr. Keith Ablow Show. Having worked as an individual and couples therapist for over 20 years, Dr. Ablow has a keen understanding of the personal struggles that people endure in today’s world. He recently spoke with AOL Book Maven Bethanne Patrick about how to keep marriage alive over the long term. Here are excerpts from that interview:

Bethanne Patrick: I'm speaking to Dr. Keith Ablow who is a noted forensic psychiatrist but also is coming to us with a new show this fall -- he's really going to be the next big thing. Hi Dr. Ablow, how are you?

Keith Ablow: I'm good, how are you?

Bethanne Patrick: I'm well.

Keith Ablow: And thank you for saying I'm going to be the next big thing -- I hope you're right!

Bethanne Patrick: I hope I am too! We are talking about marriage today, specifically. So, what can couples who have been married for a long time do to get the passion and the romance back into the relationship?

Keith Ablow: Well there are a lot of things you can do. One is you can look at your environment, because people who have been married for some period of time generally haven't maintained attention literally to the physical space they occupy -- as a place that can either be contributing to or taking away from romance. So many of us have the duvet cover that's torn on the under side and three clickers where there used to be a candle on the night stand.

Bethanne Patrick: I think you must have been to my house!

Keith Ablow: I'll do a house call for you.

Bethanne Patrick: Exactly.

Keith Ablow: I think that paying some attention to the physical space, particularly the bedroom, is a step. To reawaken some passion, you need to create -- set the stage, if you will, for passion. So make the bedroom, in some ways, the nicest room in the house. Spend a little bit more money there rather than less.

I think there's another thing people can do, which is to get very familiar with your spouse. Of course, to some extent familiarity is the enemy of passion, because to the extent that we floss in front of each other -- I'm guilty of this one -- it's a littler harder to kiss passionately three nights from then. Just a little bit. And what you want to do is create a little bit of mystery and distance again in your relationship.

So some of those things that you've taken for granted, as we do, this is part of our routine -- break the routine. Create a little distance. You might even decide to create a little more distance by saying: what would be the harm if we took a week when I went away -- let's say for a girls trip, or a guys trip -- let me plan it so that we know there's going to be a break in the action on a routine basis. People are no different than any kind of energy in the universe. Everything depolarizes, demagnetizes, if it's left in close proximity to something of the opposite charge, and men and women, husbands and wives, are no different.

Bethanne Patrick: Absence really makes the heart grow fonder.

Keith Ablow: Absence recharges your batteries, makes the heart grow fonder, and also it allows you to see the other person.