When Anger Hurts Your Relationship

HOW TO LEARN TO SPEAK, NOT SHOUT; TO ACCEPT, NOT JUDGE; TO VALUE, NOT EVALUATE.

Having a constructive dialogue with a loved one is sometimes much harder than with a tricky business partner or a despotic boss. In the heat of an argument with someone you love dearly, emotions spill over, boundaries blur, red lines are erased, and it seems easier to just break up…

But the ability to negotiate with the closest person about critically important things for you is a skill that can and should be developed.

A team of well-known authors—Matthew McKay (PhD in clinical psychology), Patrick Fanning (author of popular science books about communication psychology), and Kim Paley (PhD and practicing clinical psychologist)—developed a step-by-step method for bringing couples closer. The authors of this book know that simple truths about relationships, like “show patience and care,” are incredibly difficult to apply in real life. So they gathered everything that modern science knows about married relationships and turned it into a guide where you’ll find:

— exercises to understand yourself and your partner;
— techniques to get out of a deadlock or crisis;
— life hacks for arguments in which both sides win;
— approaches for talking with your partner when they’re angry;
— conflict breakdowns based on real events.