The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert By Dr. John Gottman and Nan Silver

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert By Dr. John Gottman and Nan Silver

I absolutely could not create a recommended book list without including the book that has most influenced my career as a couples’ therapist. Not only as a therapist but as a fellow human being who cares about the quality of my relationships.

A day doesn’t go by in my office without a new client telling me that they learned about the Gottman Method from reading this book with their partner. I often hear how the tools and concepts just make sense to couples and how they wish they had understood and practiced these interventions much sooner in their relationships.

I have personally applied every single intervention in this book to my own life before becoming a therapist. I wholeheartedly recommend the method for couples who want to experience new ways of looking at their relationship and developing the ability to create change and end gridlock on long unresolved issues. Becoming a Gottman Method therapist has changed my life. Becoming a Certified Gottman Therapist is something I am passionate about and applying the method to the work I do with couples has profoundly impacted the way I work. The use of the method has helped so many couples find new understanding, reintroduce intimacy, and affect real change.


This book is a wonderful introduction to the basic tools and concepts. Identifying behaviors like the Four Horsemen provides helpful normalization of behavior patterns that ALL couples are doing whether they are talking about it or not.

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