Love takes work, but, when it comes to relationships, it pays to work smarter. This book, a revised and updated edition of a therapist-recommended classic, shows you how to work smarter in your relationship. This book helps you improve communication, cope better with problems, and resolve conflicts in healthy and creative ways. Each chapter teaches an essential skill, based on cognitive behavioral therapy, which can lead to greater happiness and deeper intimacy.

New in this edition is a chapter on using acceptance skills, developed from the revolutionary new acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which help you learn to accept your partner without judgment and structure your relationship based on a consciously chosen set of core values.

Author: Matthew McKay, Patrick Fanning, Kim Paleg
Paperback:  316 pages
Company: New Harbinger Publications  (2006-12)
ISBN: 157224481X
List Price: $17.95
Amazon Price: $11.80
Used Price: $11.63

This book offers you a step-by-step progam you can use to hone your relationship skills to championship levels?in just ten minutes a day. You can use the book alone, or you can try the exercises with your partner, going through the book in order or choosing those chapters most relevant to your particular goals. Each chapter is short?about two or three pages?and succinct. They combine easy exercises and tools with concise, snappy commentary on issues.

Topics include: what the word "love" really means; the importance of physical touch; how to date your mate; how to achieve emotional balance; ways to deal with finances; tricks for stopping an argument before it starts; goal-setting strategies for couples; ways to deal with being apart; tips for coping with hurt before it turns into resentment; and much more.

Author: Barton Goldsmith
Paperback:  196 pages
Company: New Harbinger Publications  (2005-02-14)
ISBN: 1572244399
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $6.75
Used Price: $5.86

Most people think that poor communication is the reason why so many relationships end, but it?s actually the way we learn to think about our partners and our problems that kills trust, erodes intimacy, and cripples communication. In Why Can?t You Read My Mind?, psychologist Jeffrey Bernstein reveals?for the first time?the nine toxic thought patterns at work in virtually every intimate relationship, and shows you how the distorted, negative, exaggerated thoughts you and your partner may have about each other can destroy the love you share. Based on years of successful couples counseling, Bernstein has developed a simple yet powerful approach for breaking the toxic thinking cycle and helps you establish new and more positive thinking habits for solving your problems and dealing with the stresses of everyday life. Filled with practical advice on topics like fighting fairly and purging emotional ghosts as well as fun, easy-to-follow exercises that will keep your romance alive for years to come, Why Can?t You Read My Mind? is an invaluable tool for those seeking to restore?or create?a happy, loving, and fulfilling relationship.

Don?t let these toxic thought patterns come between you and lasting love:

The All or Nothing Trap * Catastrophic Conclusions * The Should Bomb * Label Slinging * The Blame Game * Emotional Short-Circuit * Overactive Imagination * Head Game Gamble * Disillusionment Doom

Author: Jeffrey Bernstein
Paperback:  256 pages
Company: Da Capo Press  (2003-11-02)
ISBN: 1569244758
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $8.57
Used Price: $7.50

Some couples just seem to have what it takes, while others clash constantly and struggle to connect. What do these happy couples know? What is their secret? The answer lies in Emotional Intelligence -- the ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions -- and the good news is that it can be learned. What Smart Couples Know presents a unique and realistic program to help couples and individuals develop this all-important skill and in turn create healthy, loving, mutually satisfying relationships. Compassionate, instructive, and inspiring, What Smart Couples Know will help men and women:

* become more self-aware * learn to read their partners? signals and emotions * express their own feelings more clearly * understand and regulate their own emotions * handle frustration and settle differences in a non-destructive way * break the cycle of blame.

Complete with revealing self-tests and constructive exercises, What Smart Couples Know is a groundbreaking book that will help couples everywhere reach their romantic potential.

Author: Patricia Covalt
Hardcover:  288 pages
Company: AMACOM  (2007-07-25)
ISBN: 0814409210
List Price: $19.95
Amazon Price: $0.23
Used Price: $0.22

This book shows readers who are struggling in their marriage the steps to take to strengthen and rebuild their marriage relationship. The practical solutions are built on the basic steps that are explained in The DNA of Relationships. Smalley uses fictional couples (based on real client experience) who are grappling with real-life problems ranging from work and family priority balance issues to extramarital affairs. Through the telling of the stories of real couples going through the step-by-step counseling process, the book provides a tool to help both partners identify destructive relationship habits and explains how to begin the rebuilding process.

Author: Greg Smalley, Robert S. Paul, Donna K. Wallace
Paperback:  400 pages
Company: Tyndale House Publishers  (2006-01-04)
ISBN: 0842383220
List Price: $12.99
Amazon Price: $7.00
Used Price: $6.00

In Ten Stupid Things Couples Do to Mess Up Their Relationships, Dr. Laura Schlessinger calls for a return to traditional courtship. Courtship allows couples and their families to get acquainted with each other over a longer period of time, and provides structure and guidelines for that important process. Schlessinger asks couples to take a long, hard look at the recurring problems in their marriages?both small and large?and doesn't hesitate to ten them what they are doing wrong and how they can fix it. This audio is an invaluable guide for all married couples and for single people who are struggling to find the right mate or escape a bad relationship. Acknowledging your stupid mistakes can be difficult, but with the help of this audio, you will team how to correct them and how to find fulfilment, joy, and loving companionship in your most important relationship.

Author: Laura Schlessinger
Audio Download: 
Company: audible.com 
List Price: $18.95
Amazon Price: $9.95

Asperger Syndrome (AS) has often been considered to be incompatible with love and relationships, but as the number of diagnoses increases, it is becoming apparent that people with AS can and do have full and intimate relationships. Maxine Aston frankly examines the fundamental aspects of relationships that are often complicated by the disorder. Illustrated with real-life examples, the book tackles issues such as attraction, trust, communication, intimacy and parenting and includes a section on frequently asked questions, making it a must for all those with AS and their partners, as well as for friends, family and counselors.

Author: Maxine C. Aston
Paperback:  224 pages
Company: Jessica Kingsley Publishers  (2003-04)
ISBN: 1843101157
List Price: $22.95
Amazon Price: $19.45
Used Price: $19.41

A lot of books about couples? communication give techniques that are too complicated to actually use, especially in the heat of the moment. Not so with the simple, powerfully effective methods in Communication Miracles for Couples. While the exercises are extremely simple and can be done in a snap, it is mastering these exercises that will transform the quality of a relationship. Whether two people are looking to enhance a good relationship or are deeply mired in problems, these techniques can produce miracles!

Author: Jonathan Robinson
Paperback:  176 pages
Company: Conari Press  (2009-05-01) (2009-05-01)
ISBN: 1573244171
List Price: $12.95
Amazon Price: $10.36

Written by two experienced lesbian therapists, Lesbian Couples covers a range of topics?commitment ceremonies and marriage, living arrangements, work, money, togetherness and separate identities, coming out to family and friends, resolving conflict and understanding each other?and uses a variety of helpful examples and problem-solving techniques, drawing from research done on lesbian couples over the past decade. The book pays special attention to differences of race, class, age and physical ability, and addresses the issues raised when one or both partners are recovering from alcohol, substance, or sexual abuse. The book also addresses differences that lesbians may encounter in their relationships regarding such issues as butch-femme, transgender identity, bisexuality, monogamy and sado-masochism. Thoroughly readable and extremely helpful, with an updated resource guide, Lesbian Couples is a book that every lesbian will want to own.

Author: D.Merilee Clunis, G. Dorsey Green
Paperback:  372 pages
Company: Seal Press  (2004-11-30)
ISBN: 1580051316
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $9.97
Used Price: $9.00

Although many contemporary couples claim to strive for equality in their relationships, many are unaware of the hidden ways in which gender and power still affect them and the decisions they make - from their career choices to communication patterns, childrearing, housework, and more.

Couples, Gender, and Power addresses this critical issue, as couples continue to find themselves caught in a legacy of unequal interaction that dominates their relationship, despite their best intentions to the contrary - and often without their conscious knowledge.
This timely text does the following:

• Identifies the differences between couples who get caught in gender legacy patterns
• Identifies the risks of being in a relationship ruled by "gender legacy" behavior
• Makes a case for why it is essential for clinicians to address this issue
• Focuses on cultural implications that often lead toward gender legacy

The authors also raise new possibilities for innovative clinical intervention, and suggest strategies therapists can use to help couples transform their relationships from being gender-based to equality-based.

Hardcover:  296 pages
Company: Springer Publishing Company  (2009-02-16)
ISBN: 0826115217
List Price: $50.00
Amazon Price: $50.00