Reconnect: A Marriage Counseling Workbook


Book Description

Strengthen your love and rediscover joy in your marriage with revitalizing conversations and exercises Couples can drift away from each other over time. When obligations and responsibilities pull you in other directions, you and your spouse may find yourselves on different paths, moving away from each other without realizing it. But couples can transform from disconnected and distant to vibrant and thriving by focusing on one core skill: having meaningful conversations—the lifeblood of lasting and loving relationships. In Reconnect, couples therapy authors Zach Brittle, LMHC, and Laura Heck, LMFT, offer skills, conversation prompts, and exercises to help you and your partner rebuild your emotional connection and reignite the passion that once brought you together. PRINCIPLES OF A HEALTHY CONNECTION, based on curiosity, accountability, and vulnerability, guide you through the workbook to foster communication with less emotional reactivity and judgment, and more trust and intimacy 45 MEANINGFUL THEMES TO EXPLORE with scripted questions that help you dive deeper into your identities, beginnings, shared history, responsibilities, and pleasures as well as plans for your future together ENJOYABLE RITUALS AND EXERCISES that work hand-in-hand with topical themes to prepare and get you excited for conversations EXPERT MARRIAGE COUNSELING GUIDANCE from licensed psychologists and Gottman-certified therapists that is easy to understand and implement into your daily lives




Relationship Rescue


Book Description

As a follow-up to his bestselling book Life Strategies, Oprah acolyte Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D., moves from aiding the aimless individual to coaching the disconnected couple. McGraw has distilled his more than two decades of counseling experience into a seven-step strategy he calls "Relationship Rescue." "I'm prepared to kick a hole in the wall of the pain-ridden, unhappy maze you've gotten yourself into, and provide you clear access to action-oriented answers and instructions on what you must do to have what you want," says Dr. Phil. His aim is to expose and eliminate the saboteurs that cause senseless damage to already-fragile marriages, and, like an emotional root canal, to replace them with values he says provide positive results. If you follow Dr. Phil's strategy, he will lead you on a precise journey to uncover your heart and then share it with your partner as part of taking the "risk of intimacy." Dr. Phil leads you to "reconnect with your core" in the first five steps of his seven-step strategy. By no means a quick fix, there are in-depth and rigorous questionnaires, surveys, tests, and profiles that require a "brutally candid" mindset, with such fill-in-the-blanks as "List five things that today would make you fall out of love with your partner." With this internal work accomplished, you'll then move on to reconnecting with your partner during a two-week, half-hour-a-day short course. As a "dyad," you and your loved one take turns giving monologues on topics such as "The most positive thing I took away from my mother and father's relationship was..." Once the "reconnection" has been established, Dr. Phil says the work shifts to a management role, as relationships are always a work in progress. Dr. Phil humorously refers to his own marriage throughout the book, sharing his mishaps and victories in learning to accept and enjoy what he sees as fundamental but complementary differences between men and women. --John Youngs




Reconnect


Book Description

In this powerful guidebook for couples seeking renewed connection, Dr. Call explains that when we become more aware of the myriad factors that contribute to disconnection, we can develop new understanding and strategies that promote deeper connection and healing interaction. This book will help you and your spouse to: understand and change dynamics that disrupt connection with your spouse; gain insight into the destructive effects of hurt, shame, and blame; recognize how past trauma impacts your relationship; learn strategies for staying connected in the midst of conflict; cultivate intimacy through play, and finally, discover insights, tools, and techniques that will help you navigate the hopeful path toward reconnection.




The Couple's Survival Workbook


Book Description

With more than 55 years of experience between them, master couple s therapists David Olsen and Douglas Stephens know where most relationships go awry. Based on their knowledge of those danger zones, they have created targeted, practical exercises that help you successfully navigate those areas. The goal is to turn problems or potential problems into opportunities for greater communication and intimacy. Olsen and Stephens also know that often only one half of a couple is ready to make real changes. "The Couple s Survival Workbook" is designed to work even if your partner isn t committed to the process. By skillfully changing yourself, you re likely to find your whole relationship improving. Whether you re a therapist seeking practical, effective exercises for the couples you work with clients or you are part of a struggling couple looking to make your relationship work, "The Couple s Survival Workbook" can help.




The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Over a million copies sold! “An eminently practical guide to an emotionally intelligent—and long-lasting—marriage.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work has revolutionized the way we understand, repair, and strengthen marriages. John Gottman’s unprecedented study of couples over a period of years has allowed him to observe the habits that can make—and break—a marriage. Here is the culmination of that work: the seven principles that guide couples on a path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Straightforward yet profound, these principles teach partners new approaches for resolving conflicts, creating new common ground, and achieving greater levels of intimacy. Gottman offers strategies and resources to help couples collaborate more effectively to resolve any problem, whether dealing with issues related to sex, money, religion, work, family, or anything else. Packed with new exercises and the latest research out of the esteemed Gottman Institute, this revised edition of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationship to attain its highest potential.




How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids


Book Description

"Get this for your pregnant friends, or yourself" (People): a hilariously candid account of one woman's quest to bring her post-baby marriage back from the brink, with life-changing, real-world advice. Recommended by Nicole Cliffe in Slate Featured in People Picks A Red Tricycle Best Baby and Toddler Parenting Book of the Year One of Mother magazine's favorite parenting books of the Year How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids tackles the last taboo subject of parenthood: the startling, white-hot fury that new (and not-so-new) mothers often have for their mates. After Jancee Dunn had her baby, she found that she was doing virtually all the household chores, even though she and her husband worked equal hours. She asked herself: How did I become the 'expert' at changing a diaper? Many expectant parents spend weeks researching the best crib or safest car seat, but spend little if any time thinking about the titanic impact the baby will have on their marriage - and the way their marriage will affect their child. Enter Dunn, her well-meaning but blithely unhelpful husband, their daughter, and her boisterous extended family, who show us the ways in which outmoded family patterns and traditions thwart the overworked, overloaded parents of today. On the brink of marital Armageddon, Dunn plunges into the latest relationship research, solicits the counsel of the country's most renowned couples' and sex therapists, canvasses fellow parents, and even consults an FBI hostage negotiator on how to effectively contain an "explosive situation." Instead of having the same fights over and over, Dunn and her husband must figure out a way to resolve their larger issues and fix their family while there is still time. As they discover, adding a demanding new person to your relationship means you have to reevaluate -- and rebuild -- your marriage. In an exhilarating twist, they work together to save the day, happily returning to the kind of peaceful life they previously thought was the sole province of couples without children. Part memoir, part self-help book with actionable and achievable advice, How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids is an eye-opening look at how the man who got you into this position in this first place is the ally you didn't know you had.




The Relationship Rescue Workbook


Book Description

The ideal companion book to the #1 New York Times bestseller Ever since Relationship Rescue became an instant number one New York Times hardcover bestseller, Phil McGraws audiences have been asking for a workbook to help them apply his strategies for change to their relationships. Now, in The Relationship Rescue Workbook, Dr. Phil, Oprah's resident expert on human functioning, provides questions, exercises and self-tests that will enable couples in even the most troubled relationships to get their love lives back on track. And for those in solid relationships who would like to regain their spark, he reveals how to make that happen. He shows readers exactly how to pinpoint problems in their relationships, and how to make sure that the changes they enact will truly last. His straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is advice is made crystal clear in this easy-to-use workbook that is sure to prove immensely popular with his devoted national following.




Reconnected


Book Description

Are You Married to Your Roommate . . . or Your Lover? Whether you’ve been married for six years or six decades, you may wake up one day to discover that the person sleeping next to you has become a stranger. Between work, kids, financial woes, and the busyness of everyday living, your marriage may feel like it’s on life support. You and your spouse love each other, but you’re both barely hanging on. How do you find your way back? How do you reconnect with your spouse and capture all that marriage is intended to be? Dr. Greg and Erin Smalley understand. Despite being hailed as marriage experts, they found themselves living more like roommates than lovers. Through intentional work, they fought their way back, and you can too. In Reconnected, they’ll walk alongside you and your spouse as you learn to reconnect by: Sharing life-giving communicationDreaming together about your futureRekindling romance and passionEmbracing your individuality while coming together as a coupleTransforming your life from one of busyness to one of connection Take your marriage from surviving to thriving. Reconnect with your first love.




This Is How Your Marriage Ends


Book Description

A thoughtful, down-to-earth, contemporary guide to help partners identify and address relationship-killing behavior patterns in their own lives. Good people can be bad at relationships. One night during his divorce, after one too many vodkas and a call with a phone-in-therapist who told him to “journal his feelings,” Matthew Fray started a blog. He needed to figure out how his ex-wife went from the eighteen-year-old college freshman who adored him to the angry woman who thought he was an asshole and left him. As he pieced together the story of his marriage and its end, Matthew began to realize a hard truth: even though he was a decent guy, he was a bad husband. As he shared raw, uncomfortable, and darkly humorous first-person stories about the lessons he’d learned from his failed marriage, a peculiar thing happened. Matthew started to gain a following. In January 2016 a post he wrote—“She Divorced Me Because I left the Dishes by the Sink”—went viral and was read over four million times. Filtered through the lens of his own surprising, life-changing experience and his years counseling couples, This Is How Your Marriage Ends exposes the root problem of so many relationships that go wrong. We simply haven’t been taught any of the necessary skills, Matthew explains. In fact, it is sometimes the assumption that we are acting on good intentions that causes us to alienate our partners and foment mistrust. With the humorous, entertaining, and counterintuitive approach of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and the practical insights of The 5 Love Languages, This is How Your Marriage Ends helps readers identify relationship-killing behavior patterns in their own lives, and offers solutions to break free from the cycles of dysfunction and destruction. It is must-read for every partner no matter what stage–beginning, middle, or even end—of your relationship.




Love More, Fight Less: Communication Skills Every Couple Needs


Book Description

Learn to communicate effectively, meaningfully, and lovingly with your partner--even in tense situations. Conflict is part of every relationship, even the healthiest ones. The key to a long-lasting relationship isn't avoiding fights, but rather seeing them as opportunities to work together. In her book, Gottman-certified relationship coach Dr. Gina Senarighi gives us the tools and strategies we need to communicate effectively, rebuild trust, and repair past hurts. Love More, Fight Less features: 30 COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES for building self-awareness, identifying and interrupting emotional reactivity, eliminating judgment, separating thoughts from feelings, and more 29 COMMON PITFALLS IN RELATIONSHIPS around issues of intimacy, career, finances, family and home matters, and friendships with other people--and how to navigate them STEP-BY-STEP GUIDANCE AND EXPERT INSIGHT to help you transform your relationship's conflict patterns by integrating effective communication skills This relationship workbook is for couples who want to learn new skills and build a solid foundation for working through conflicts and moving forward in ways that strengthen their bonds.