An eminent therapist explains what makes couples compatible and how to sustain a happy marriage. For the past thirty-five years, John Gottman’s research has been internationally recognized for its unprecedented ability to precisely measure interactive processes in couples and to predict the long-term success or failure of relationships. In this groundbreaking book, he presents a new approach to understanding and changing couples: a fundamental social skill called “emotional attunement,” which describes a couple’s ability to fully process and move on from negative emotional events, ultimately creating a stronger relationship. Gottman draws from this longitudinal research and theory to show how emotional attunement can downregulate negative affect, help couples focus on positive traits and memories, and even help prevent domestic violence. He offers a detailed intervention devised to cultivate attunement, thereby helping couples connect, respect, and show affection. Emotional attunement is extended to tackle the subjects of flooding, the story we tell ourselves about our relationship, conflict, personality, changing relationships, and gender. Gottman also explains how to create emotional attunement when it is missing, to lay a foundation that will carry the relationship through difficult times. Gottman encourages couples to cultivate attunement through awareness, tolerance, understanding, non-defensive listening, and empathy. These qualities, he argues, inspire confidence in couples, and the sense that despite the inevitable struggles, the relationship is enduring and resilient. This book, an essential follow-up to his 1999 The Marriage Clinic, offers therapists, students, and researchers detailed intervention for working with couples, and offers couples a roadmap to a stronger future together.

The NPR commentator describes her realization that she was prioritizing the wrong qualities in her search for a life partner, in an unstinting account that draws on the positive and negative responses to her 2008 "Atlantic" article.

Argues that couples must recognize the polarity between masculinity and femininity in order to sustain a mutually satisfying marriage, in a guide the draws on examples from the author's call-in radio show.

THE STORY: Nestled in the Catskills—1962's land of dirty dancing and Borscht Belt comedy—an inconspicuous bungalow colony catered to a very special clientele: heterosexual men who delighted in dressing and acting as women. These white-collar professionals would discreetly escape their families to spend their weekends safely inhabiting their chosen female alter-egos. But given the opportunity to share their secret lives with the world, the members of this sorority had to decide whether the freedom gained by openness was worth the risk of personal ruin. Based on real events and infused with Fierstein's trademark wit, this moving, insightful, and delightfully entertaining work offers a glimpse into the lives of a group of "self-made women" as they search for acceptance and happiness in their very own Garden of Eden.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger explains in detail, the 10 most common things men do to mess up their lives and gives suggestions on how to stop the self-destructive behaviors.

"An unlikely pair of voices, the world's most recognizable beauty icon and 'America's rabbi', comes together to diagnose how meaningful, passionate sex is on the decline in Western culture, and how to save it"--

An exciting new talent, shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize, hailed as ‘a triumph’ by The Times, and a poignant observer of human hearts, foibles and follies. ‘’There isn’t a false note in the book, nothing but ravishing grace, wit and tender feelings.’ Mail on Sunday

Tracing a lineage from Greek mythology to our own most intimate relationships, Carol Gilligan asks why, generation after generation, we relive tragic stories of loss and betrayal, and sets out to create a radical new map of love. Within the sweep of this book, Gilligan takes us through novels and dreams, ancient legends and contemporary research to an illumination of modern couples in crisis. She shows us that, although the women's movements of the 20th century have challenged patriarchal structures, the underlying patterns remain: the early channeling of boys into "masculinity, " the double consciousness of girls in adolescence, the silences between men and women, the splits between our social and inner selves. In the haunting love story of Psyche and Cupid, Gilligan discovers a crucial tale of resistance--showing us that the path of pleasure can be found in the heart of tragedy, that joy and harmony can defy anger and pain.

Sexuality is a beautiful part of life - truly a gift from God. But in order for it to be enjoyed as a meaningful part of marriage, young couples need accurate information. Knowledge about marital intimacy was once passed from parent to child; today, many couples are left to face this critical area of their lives with little helpful guidance. Et Le'ehov seeks to address this issue, with a sense of tzniyus and respect for the sanctity of marriage. This book is an essential resource for the chassan (groom) and kallah (bride), as well as chassan and kallah teachers, rabbis, and anyone in the Torah-observant community with questions about sexuality. Written in clear language with helpful illustrations structured specifically to answer questions that many observant couples face, Et Le'ehov is designed to help newlyweds and "young marrieds" learn about the many aspects of their sexual experience.

Breaking up was never so much fun. Whether the reader is the dumper or the dumpee, Harris knows what they're going through--loneliness, guilt, resentment, second thoughts, and at least a few glimmers of relief and freedom. The perfect pick-me-up for the jilted everywhere, He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not shows readers that when it comes to breakups, there's nothing wrong with wallowing in one's own misery, seeking a little revenge, or eating onself into oblivion.

"The funniest American novel since Sam Lipsyte's The Ask ." - Village Voice "A ribald chronicle of [a] 60-something Manhattan accountant, who's come to Rio de Janeiro as a sex tourist. [A] fever dream of a novel." - New York Times Book Review "Levy delivers a visceral blend of hilarious satire and study in human sexuality, taking us on a deviant tour of Rio." - Interview Magazine I have come to regard almost everything that happens in human life as a form of therapy. So muses Kenny Cantor, always dapper in his seersucker suit from the Brooks Brothers 346 collection. Kenny is a CPA, amateur psychoanalyst, and sex-tourist vacationing in Rio when he gets waylaid at a psychoanalytic conference. What ensues is a provocative journey that merges sex and psychoanalysis through Rio's tawdry netherworld of Susan Sontag-quoting denizens as only an incendiary voice like Francis Levy could imagine. Francis Levy is the author of Erotomania: A Romance , a Queerty.com Top 10 Book of 2008 and an Inland Empire Weekly Standout Book of 2008. His short stories, criticism, humor, and poetry have appeared in The New York Times , The Washington Post , The New Republic , The Village Voice , and many others.

Breakup Girl is the only superhero whose mission it is to fight crimes of the heart, stop dating indignities, and help you get your stuff back. No matter where you are in a relationship, Breakup Girl to the Rescue! guides you through that big, messy thing called love. Lynn Harris uses her knowing voice and generous humor -- with real letters sent to her hugely popular Web site, BreakupGirl.com -- to ease readers through either side of a breakup, the dating life, and the rough spots of relationships. Topics include Dropping the Bomb, Relapses vs. Reunions, From Friends to Lovers, How to Lose Your Baggage, and The Curse of The Nice Guy.

The proliferation of dating websites, printed personals, and self-help relationship books reflects the new ways Americans seek close, personal relationships. Exposed to changing and often conflicting values, trends, and fashions--disseminated by popular culture, advertising, and assorted "experts"--Americans face uncertainties about the best ways to meet important emotional and social needs. How do we establish lasting and intimate personal relationships, including marriage? In Extravagant Expectations Paul Hollander investigates how Americans today pursue romantic relationships, with special reference to the advantages and drawbacks of Internet dating compared to connections made in school, college, and the workplace. By analyzing printed personals, dating websites, and advice offered by pop psychology books, he examines the qualities that people seek in a partner and also assesses the influence of the remaining conventional ideas of romantic love. Hollander suggests that notions of romantic love have changed due to conflicting values and expectations and the impact of pragmatic considerations. Individualism, high expectations, social and geographic mobility, changing sex roles, and the American national character all play a part in this fascinating and finally sobering exploration of the efforts of men and women to find love and meaning in life. --Book Jacket.

TV comedy double act Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan look at the wrangles, rows and off-side rules of relationships. Ronni's challenge is this: to wean a die-hard football fan off the not-so-beautiful game. Her guinea pig is her best friend and ex-boyfriend, the truly obsessed Alistair McGowan.