Almost everyone knows a couple who seems joined at the hip. While it's nice to see a loving pair get along, it can cause some problems if they forget their friends and family along their journey of bliss.

"We go everywhere together. We drive the same car to work," Janice* said, a practice she believes contributes to her closeness to her boyfriend. Every day, they meet up for lunch, a habit that came from when they worked together. After work, they journey to the home they share.

"Most of our activities are together," said Janice, who has been with her boyfriend for two years.

The 27-year-old admitted that she and her partner are 'joined at the hip' and that family and friends usually have to share time with the duo or sacrifice having any time at all.

"At first, I felt kinda guilty spending that much time with him," Janice said, especially when friends and family chided her about never being without her partner. However, she no longer feels guilty about spending her free time with the man she loves.

"I like to share some silly stuff with him," she said.

Janice admitted that it's difficult to spontaneously go out alone with others, she feels it lacks continuity.

"When my friends invite me somewhere I automatically think 'what will he do in that time or can I take him with me?'" she said. She said that, on those occasions, he will find something else to do.

Her previous relationships were not like this.

"I guess his personality sort of brought it out in me," she said as more often than not she initiates going out without him.

Carene, in her early 30s, is feeling the effects of being a friend to someone in a similar relationship.

"There are 365 days in a year, I must can get two," said Carene, who explained that her friend since high school no longer has even an afternoon to just go out. This, she said, was never the case before.

"This one, everywhere she deh him deh," she said.

Carene wants her friend to recognise that she just wants to hang out together, just the two of them, alone every once in a while.

"Sometimes when I call you up and invite you out somewhere, just say yes without asking if he can come or that you have to check with him first," she said.

She has attempted to join them but it just ends up uncomfortable.

"We're just there chatting and he'll just lag behind or just sit there," she said.

Too much togetherness

According to claims in a USA Today article, being too close is relative to the individuals.

"Partnerships that are 'joined at the hip' might be fine for some couples but it is too much togetherness for others," according the article titled 'Couples can be too close for Comfort' by Sharon Jayson. She quoted Debra Mashek, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont California, saying, when individuals think their life revolves around a partner, that should be considered too close.

Tips for spreading the love

1. Make the occasional call to family and friends to just say hi.

2. Make a date to catch up on old times with your friend without your partner. Indulge in a movie or drinks, you'll remember what made you friends in the first place.

3. Have dinner with family or a brief visit with siblings and parents.

4. Attempt to bring everyone in your life together, they may find they have more in common than originally thought.

Names changed