Product Description

Open Hearts: Renewing Relationships With Recovery, Romance and Reality by Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., Debra Laaser and Mark Laaser, Ph.D. (Gentle Path Press, 1999)

When a couple first comes together, the knee-weakening, heart-stopping, pants-dropping passion exhilarates. But turning that hunka hunka burnin love into an intimate bond comes no more naturally than learning to ride a bicycle or use chopsticks. What we are socialized to assume should be spontaneous and effortless requires patience and learned skills. Worse, should any problems erupt (you know, little things like kids, money or sex), we fear the relationship and we are irrevocably broken. We need help.

Open Hearts teaches those relationship skills. What makes it different is it is drawn from the lives of couples shattered by the ultimate betrayals of sex addiction. It takes principles learned in clinically treating couples shellshocked by shame and pain. Then it mixes them with spiritual steps drawn fr! om the authors own recovery to find healing hope in the hell of unimaginable hurt.

Though written by two noted psychologists, Open Hearts is not technical, but gentle and uplifting. Thats because authors Pat Carnes and Mark and Deb Laaser share how they found their way to joyous and fulfilling intimacy. Whats more, while these concepts originated in the recovery movement, they can transform any couple seeking renewal or trying to restore a broken relationship.

Open Hearts starts with basic truths:

„h We can only work on a relationship when were in that relationship. Running away never solved anything.

„h If we have not resolved childhood developmental issues, we will seek out partners we think will resolve them. Always.

„h Its perfectly healthy to fight. We just have to learn to do it better.

„h As partners were often stuck in coupleshame. But working through it leads to true intimacy.

Open Hearts is a book a couple does together. It takes techniques Carne! s and Laaser developed in their psychotherapy practices and weaves them into a series of individual and joint exercises. It looks at tough issues: shame, anger, money, betrayal, sex, parenting. It encourages fun: drawing up a family motto, expressing spirituality together, taking gentleness breaks. It works.

Now these three authors address coupleship to show how a relationship, no matter how imperfect or new, can be transformed and restored to loving intimacy.

Join us in a gentle path to a renewed relationship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11121 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 218 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781929866007
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"A hopeful, helpful guide to transforming our most intimate bond" -- John Bradshaw

"Guides us on a tender journey to fulfilling the highest potential of a loving relationship" -- Claudia Black

About the Author
Dr. Patrick J. Carnes is a nationally known speaker on addiction and recovery issues. He has authored 15 books, including of Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction (1992), Contrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict (1989), The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships (1997), Open Hearts (1999), Facing the Shadow (2001), In the Shadows of the Net (2001), and The Clinical Management of Sex Addiction (2002). Dr. Carnes article, 18.4 Sexual Addiction, appears in Kaplan & Sadock s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (2005). He is currently at work on Recovery Zone. Dr. Carnes is the Executive Director of the Gentle Path program at Pine Grove Behavioral Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He is the primary architect of Gentle Path treatment programs for the treatment of sexual and addictive disorders. He also pioneered the founding of the Certified Sex Addiction Therapist program. This has evolved into a network of local, regional, and residential programs which specialize in this work. Dr. Carnes holds a Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of Minnesota. He has been honored with numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health. Debra Laaser is the president and CEO of Yours, Mine, and Ours, Inc., an international company that produces water color drawings for the gift industry. She is an avid tennis player and golfer. Mark Laaser is renowned across the country for his books on marriage, sexuality and discussing sex in the family. Mark Laaser, Ph.D., CAS, is an author of several books, including Faithful and True, Before the Fall and Talking to Your Children About Sex, and is a speaker and workshop leader. Married for over 25 years, Mark and Deb are the parents of Sarah, Jon and Ben, and are currently trying to let go of all of them. They have led numerous couples workshops helping couples renew their relationships with recovery, romance and reality.

Customer Reviews

Gently healing your intimate partnership using the 12 steps
This is a lot of value for a very small price. You can embark on a life changing journey utilizing these pages.

This is a book that makes large, emotional issues approachable for couples, and makes sense out of the often baffling conflicts and complexities of intimate relationships. It is largely based on a twelve-step recovery program, RCA, Recovering Couples Anonymous, but is written for any couple's use, as long as the desire to reach for something better is sincere.

The first few chapters explore important issues and concepts, and my husband and I have gained a lot of confidence in the book from reading these chapters aloud to one another. We gained a number of valuable and helpful insights as well, about ourselves and one another.It is written in a realistic, insightful and respectfully caring style, that we found encouraging.

The rest of the book is in a workbook format, with exercises that are geared to helping a couple understand themselves and the entity of the relationship and bring all the pieces together in an honest way that can, I believe, lead to healing. The exercises are accompanied by guiding explanations.

I have not worked these exercises yet, but my husband and I intend to do so when we're through with the readings.

healing for couples recovering from sex addiction
Patrick Carnes is a "founding father" in this field and does not disappoint. He displays complete understanding and guides gently on the path to wholeness for couples. Double WOW!

Hm, looks like a publisher mishap...
When I got the book, I noticed that some of the pages were backwards and upside down. Looks like the publisher made a mistake in binding one section. It doesn't bother me that much but I thought I would let Amazon know so the info can be passed onto the publisher.