<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings about a topic . Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style . (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The seven - year itch is a psychological term that suggests that happiness in a relationship declines after around year seven of a marriage . The phrase originated as a name for irritating and contagious skin complaints of a long duration . Examples of reference may have included STD outbreaks that are known to significantly decrease in frequency after seven years, or mites that live under the skin (scabies) and cause severe itching that is hard to get rid of . Later on in the 19th and early 20th centuries it was viewed as an expression of imagined appropriate punishment for antisocial behavior, or as a simile for a situation with little hope in relief . </P> <P> The phrase was first used to describe an inclination to become unfaithful after seven years of marriage in the play The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod, and gained popularity following the 1955 film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell . In his 1913 novel The Eighth Year, Philip Gibbs attributes the concept to the British judge Sir Francis Jeune . </P> <P> The phrase has since expanded to indicate cycles of dissatisfaction not only in interpersonal relationships but in any situation such as working a full - time job or buying a house, where a decrease in happiness and satisfaction is often seen over long periods of time . </P>

Where did the term 7 year itch come from