Partner Development

When a parent singles out a child for special privileges and attention, that child is often unaware that the relationship is unhealthy - even incestuous. As adults, these children struggle to feel validated, because while they have not been directly abused, they feel a sense of violation and crossed boundaries - usually done in the name of 'love' and 'caring'. The parent's love feels more confining than freeing, more demanding than giving, more intrusive than nurturing. Yet these children suffer from what psychologist Kenneth Adams calls The Silent Seduction.

Betrayal has many faces, including anger, abuse, deceit, and infidelity. These feel like betrayal because they violate the implicit promise of emotional bonds, that your loved one will care about your well-being and never intentionally hurt you. If you've recently left a relationship where you felt betrayed by your partner, you may have difficulty moving on. In fact, it can seem impossible to view the world without the shadow of past betrayal hovering over you. As a result, you may struggle to create meaning in your life and to build new, loving relationships.

Loving Someone with Anxiety is one of the few books written specifically for the partners of people with anxiety disorders. You'll learn the importance of setting healthy boundaries, limiting codependent behaviors, and why taking over roles that make your partner anxious - such as answering the phone, driving, or doing the grocery shopping because your partner feels too anxious to be in public - can be extremely damaging for the both of you.

Carol Juergenen Sheets and Allan J. Katz have created a workbook/roadmap for rebuilding relationships damaged by sexual addiction and other forms of infidelity. With a focus on empathy – understanding what the betrayed partner is feeling; the exercises in this guidebook will help sex addicts rebuild lost trust and intimacy. This is a recipe for healing a broken relationship.

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental condition in which those affected have a deep need for excessive admiration and attention, a lack of empathy for others, an inflated sense of their own importance, and troubled relationships. A narcissistic parent will try to prioritize their needs over everyone else’s. It is difficult to deal with a narcissist because not only do they have a lack of empathy, but they also have a deep tendency to push back with defensiveness, anger, and criticism. This book has something for everyone who has had to deal with a toxic, narcissistic ex.

An essential resource designed to help partners of people with bipolar disorder mend strained relationships, negotiate episodic crises, survive the turbulence manic behavior may cause, and more.

On May 2, 1963, Robert Killins, a former United Church minister, slaughtered every woman in his family but one. She (and her brother) lived to tell the story of what motivated a talented man who had been widely admired, a scholar and graduate from Queen's University, to stalk and terrorize the women in his family for almost twenty years and then murder them. Through extensive oral histories, Cook and Carson painstakingly trace the causes of a femicide in which four women and two unborn babies were murdered over the course of one bloody evening.

This book addresses the issue of gaslighting and toxic relationships that hinders your freedom and keeps you from maximizing the full potential that is in you without being subject to any form of manipulation. With specific techniques that are tried and true, you can overcome gaslighting in your relationship. This book will help you understand whether you are being gaslighted, where this abuse is coming from, and how to tackle the issues to give you the freedom you need emotionally and psychologically.

More than 60 million people have been in a pathological love relationship with someone who has an impaired conscience. Using the stories of survivors and social psychological research on compliance, cognitive dissonance, and thought control, Why Can't I Just Leave? explains how relationships with pathological partners can create impossible dilemmas that trap you in a distorted dream state and hijack your thoughts and emotions. Learn what those who are conscience-impaired don't want you to know and find out how to wake up and walk out of your partner's invisible prison forever.

Living with an emotionally absent partner can be overwhelming. Constantly overcoming the silent distance can leave you with the sense that the give and take in your relationship has disappeared. But even the most broken relationship can be reinvigorated. In helping real-world couples achieve fulfilling futures, Harvard University clinical psychologist Dr. Holly Parker has developed a program filled with practical exercises and powerful advice for individuals on both sides of an emotionally damaged relationship.

When leaving is not a viable option: Discover how to cope with narcissists while living under the same roof, sharing a workplace, or co-parenting. Psychologists and behavioral experts are still debating the causes of narcissism, but they all agree on one thing: Having a narcissist in your life is extremely harmful to your well-being. Breaking free from that toxic circle of narcissism and codependency is hard, especially when you’re dealing with someone close to you. You’re not alone, and there’s a way to regain your freedom and confidence.

Coercive control will see an abuser dominate their victim's life, from the food they eat, the people they see, the places they can go, and the things they can say. A controlling partner, through fear and intimidation, will seek to ensure their victim is subdued, to the point of accepting any and all abuse that's fired their way.

An international TED Talk speaker, Tony Porter challenges manhood and male socialization, which he defines as the "man box". Tony Porter works closely with the NFL, the NBA, the MLB, the US military, colleges, universities, and numerous other organizations to prevent violence against women and girls by promoting healthy, respectful manhood.

Imagine the pain and devastation of discovering your partner has had an affair. The betrayal, the hurt, and the feeling of being torn apart from the person you once loved. You may feel like your world has been turned upside down, leaving you wondering if your relationship can ever be healed. But what if there was a way to mend the wounds and rebuild trust? This groundbreaking book reveals the secrets to healing your spouse after an affair, from understanding their perspective to providing the necessary support.

Coupling stories of abused women and abusive men from her own case studies, Patricia Evans here gives you the tools you need to transform your relationship. Most important, she assures you that such a transformation is possible—given the right circumstances. Evans also helps you determine if your abuser really has changed—or if he’s merely creating the illusion of change. And if he hasn’t changed, Evans helps you decide whether it’s time to leave the relationship—and what to do when it is.

This popular, science-based guide offers powerful solutions for couples frustrated by continual attempts to make each other change. True acceptance may seem difficult to accomplish, but the clear-cut steps and thought-provoking exercises in this audiobook can make it a reality. You'll learn why you keep having the same fights again and again; how to keep small incompatibilities from causing big problems; what communication strategies really work to resolve conflicts; and how to problem-solve and make positive changes - together.

Rumination—obsessive thinking about an idea, situation, or choice that can interfere with normal life—is a common and destructive issue that can negatively impact romantic relationships. You may feel anxious, worried, hopeless, and frustrated, but even if you know your overthinking is a problem, it can be seriously hard to stop. In Stop Overthinking Your Relationship, certified couples therapist Alicia Muñoz draws from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness to offer an effective, four-step approach to reduce rumination and change negative thinking patterns.

You fell in love. On your wedding day, you never dreamed life could be any better. Now you’re in the midst of a heated battle, your head spinning and your heart broken, wondering where that person went. Tracy A. Malone, an internationally recognized expert on emotional abuse and narcissistic personality disorder, survival coach and founder of a narcissistic abuse support website, has been there, along with countless others whose successes offer quick, enlightening glimpses into methods used to outlast the attempts at destruction, and flourish after the dust has settled.

Communication is integral to all relationships, especially intimate ones. Anxiety - and the negative thought patterns it brings with it - can wreak havoc on an otherwise healthy relationship. So, why do some couples strengthen their bonds over time, while for others the conversation just dies? Anxiety in Your Relationship examines the most common manifestations of anxiety in romantic relationships and offers simple strategies to break the destructive cycles of fear and insecurity.

The behavior of people with Asperger's can be hard to understand and easy to misinterpret, which is why it's so important to learn more about your partner's condition. The tools presented in Loving Someone with Asperger's Syndrome will help you build intimacy and improve the way you and your partner communicate. This book will teach you how to understand the effect of Asperger's syndrome on your partner, practice effective communication skills, constructively work through frustrations and fights, and establish relationship ground rules to help you fulfill each others' needs.