Relationships Matter

Simple, Powerful Techniques that Make Relationships Work

"Why won’t my husband ever express his feelings?"
“Why won’t my wife listen?"
“Why is my sister such a control freak?"
"Why does my ex act like such a total jerk?"
“What’s wrong with people?”

We all have someone we can’t get along with—whether it’s a friend or colleague who complains constantly, a relentlessly critical boss, an obnoxious neighbor, a teenager who pouts and slams doors (all the while insisting she’s not upset), or maybe a loving, but irritating spouse.

In his bestselling book, Feeling Good, Dr. David Burns introduced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a clinically proven, drug-free therapy that has revolutionized the treatment of clinical depression throughout the world. Now, in Feeling Good Together, he presents Cognitive Interpersonal Therapy, a radical new approach that will help you transform troubled, conflicted relationships into successful, happy ones.

Dr. Burns’ method for improving these relationships is easy and surprisingly effective. In Feeling Good Together, you’ll learn:
How to stop pointing fingers at everyone else and start looking at yourself.
How to pinpoint the exact cause of the problem with any person you’re not getting along with.
How to solve virtually any kind of relationship conflict almost instantly.

Based on twenty-five years of clinical experience and groundbreaking research on more than 1,000 individuals, Feeling Good Together presents an entirely new theory of why we have so much trouble getting along with each other. The book is filled with helpful examples and brilliant, user-friendly tools such as the Relationship Satisfaction Test, the Relationship Journal, the Five Secrets of Effective Communication, the Intimacy Exercise, and more, so you can enjoy far more loving and satisfying relationships with the people you care about.

You deserve rewarding, intimate relationships. Feeling Good Together will show you how.

User Reviews about Feeling Good Together: The Secret to Making Troubled Relationships Work

The mp3 recording was very good - which I had gotten it in a regular cd format to play on my computer. -- Feeling Good Making Troubled Relationships Work

If there was only one book you could read about conflict resolution, this would be the one. Unlike the reviewer who thought this was dumbed down, I found the style helpful for one to easily absorb the material. One normally wants an observer of conflicts in a relationship to acknowledge that one is right and one's spouse is wrong. So it takes some courage to try these techniques as it requires seeing the truth in the criticism of the spouse. However the rewards of the techniques are highly motivating. I liked the fact that one could diagnose the problems in a conflict with just one interaction. One doesn't require many sessions of marital therapy to start solving problems in the relationship! -- Unique book

Feeling Good Together: The Secret to Making Troubled Relationships Work
Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

Burns' previous book, Feeling Good, sold over four million copies; this book has the potential of doing the same. It is outstanding. In this 255-page book, there are six parts and 30 chapters -- approximately 8½ pages per chapter. Some of the intriguing chapter titles include, "Why We Secretly Love to Hate," "Three Ideas That Can Change Your Life," "How Good Is Your Relationship? The Relationship Satisfaction Test," "The Price of Intimacy," "Good Communication vs. Bad Communication," "How We Control Other People," "The Five Secrets of Effective Communication," "The Disarming Technique," "Intimacy Traing for Couples: The One-Minute Drill," Part Five, "Common Traps--How to Avoid Them," and "Positive Reframing: Opening the Door to Intimacy--and Success." You can see, just from the titles, how the information he presents is directly tied to questions, problems, and issues that all couples face. The beauty of the book, however, and the practical, realistic tools Burns offers readers apply to all relationships, whether they are spouse, family, friends, or co-workers. I have always found Burns' approach to readers direct, interesting, warm, and engaging, and his "radically different approach" in this book is labeled "Cognitive Interpersonal Therapy," and if my interpersonal textbook had continued (the seventh edition of it was the last), I would have incorporated his basic principles of CIT in my textbook: 1) "We all provoke and maintain the exact relationship problems that we complain about." 2) "We deny our own role in the conflict because self-examination is so shocking and painful, and because we're secretly rewarded by the problem we're complaining about." 3) "We all have far more power than we think to transform troubled relations--if we're willing to stop blaming the other person and focus instead on changing ourselves" (p. 36). The tables, bulleted points, suggested steps, and examples are helpful, realistic, and worthwhile. For anyone having relationship problems, wanting to avoid relationship problems, or wanting to know what kind of advice to give to others, this is an outstanding choice. -- This book is an outstanding choice for anyone dealing with relationship problems.

This book is exquisitely useful in my practice--I work with couples and families as a therapist. Dr. Burns' methods will profit anyone who wants to improve a relationship of any kind. I highly recommend this book and other titles by this author as well. -- Couples will profit!