Best Self Help Relationship Books (2025 Updated)

The ideal companion book to the #1 New York Times bestseller Ever since Relationship Rescue became an instant number one New York Times hardcover bestseller, Phil McGraws audiences have been asking for a workbook to help them apply his strategies for change to their relationships.

Phil, Oprah’s resident expert on human functioning, provides questions, exercises and self-tests that will enable couples in even the most troubled relationships to get their love lives back on track.

And for those in solid relationships who would like to regain their spark, he reveals how to make that happen. He shows readers exactly how to pinpoint problems in their relationships, and how to make sure that the changes they enact will truly last.

His straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is advice is made crystal clear in this easy-to-use workbook that is sure to prove immensely popular with his devoted national following.

An invaluable resource for couples in which one or both partners have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), this authoritative book guides troubled partners towards an understanding and appreciation for the struggles and triumphs of a relationship affected by it, and to integrate ADHD into their relationship in a more positive and less disruptive way.

Going beyond traditional marriage counseling which can often discount the influence of ADHD, this discussion offers advice from the author’s personal experience and years of research and identifies patterns of behavior that can hurt marriages–such as nagging, intimacy problems, sudden anger, and memory issues–through the use of descriptions of actual couples and their ADHD struggles and solutions.

The first third of the book is dedicated to helping couples identify how ADHD impacts their relationship. The last two-thirds provides a specific set of steps couples can move through to overcome their hurt and anger, once again develop loving ways to interact with each other, and find the joy they’ve lost in their struggles.

This book encourages both spouses to become active partners in improving their relationship and healing the fissures that ADHD can cause. Also included are worksheets and various methods for difficult conversations so that couples can find a technique that fits their unique relationship and improve their communication skills.

Boundaries in Dating offers illuminating insights for romance that can help you grow in freedom, honesty, and self-control as you pursue healthy dating limits that can lead to a happy marriage. – Dating can be fun, but it’s not easy.

Meeting people is just the first step. Once you’ve met someone, then what? Should you move on, pursue a simple friendship, or more? How do you set smart limits on your physical relationship? How much do you get involved financially? And how do you know if you’ve found your future spouse? Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, answer all of these questions and more.

Helping you bridge the pitfalls of dating, Drs. Cloud and Townsend share their practical advice for adding healthy boundaries to your dating life. – Boundaries in Dating unfolds a wise, biblical path to developing self-control, freedom, and intimacy.

Let Drs. Cloud and Townsend help you get to know yourself, solve problems, and enjoy the journey of dating and finding your life partner. – Full of insightful, real-life examples, this much-needed book will give you the tools you need to: Recognize and choose quality over perfection in a dating partner – Prioritize friendship within your relationship – Preserve friendships by separating between platonic relationships and romantic interest – Move past denial to handle real relational problems in a realistic and hopeful way – Enjoy this season of life.

With Life Strategies, Phil McGraw helped hundreds of thousands of people take responsibility for their own actions and break free from self-destructive habits and situations. Now he turns his honest, unflinching eye toward relationshipsdiagnosing them, repairing them, and maintaining them.

This hands-on book is for people who realize their relationship is in trouble, but who dont want to give up on it. In addition, it includes questionnaires, profiles, and checklists that will keep readers focused and aware of their feelings.

Phil McGraw has already established himself as someone whom readers can turn to for direct, tell-it-like-it-is help in their own lives. Now he offers readers the chance for further happiness through meaningful, fulfilling relationships that work.

McGraw helps get relationships back on track with a controversial explosion of the myths of conventional relationship thinking and clear action-oriented steps for reconnecting partners.

Too many of us have invested ourselves into relationships that left us deeply wounded. Or else lock the doors of our hearts entirely and throw away the key. Is it possible to change? And if so, where does one begin? Drs.

Henry Cloud and John Townsend offer solid guidance for making safe choices in relationships, from friendships to romance. Safe People will help you to recognize 20 traits of relationally untrustworthy people.

Discover what makes some people relationally safe, and how to avoid unhealthy entanglements. You’ll learn about things within yourself that jeopardize your relational security. And you’ll find out what to do and what not to do to develop a balanced, healthy approach to relationships.

In this revised and updated version of Facing Love Addiction, bestselling author of Facing Codependence and internationally recognized dependence and addiction authority Pia Mellody unravels the intricate dynamics of unhealthy love relationships and shows us how to let go of toxic love.

Through twelve-step work, exercises, and journal-keeping, Facing Love Addiction compassionately and realistically outlines the recovery process for Love Addicts, and Mellody’s fresh perspective and clear methods work to comfort and motivate all those looking to establish and maintain healthy, happy relationships.

Some really great books just keep getting better! For seventeen years The Betrayal Bond has been the primary source for therapists and patients wrestling the effects of emotional pain and harm caused by exploitation from someone they trusted.

Divorce, litigation, incest and child abuse, domestic violence, kidnapping, professional exploitation and religious abuse are all areas of trauma bonding. These are situations and relationships of incredible intensity or importance lend themselves more easily to an exploitation of trust or power.

Carnes presents an in-depth study of these relationships; why they form, who is most susceptible, and how they become so powerful. Dr. Carnes also gives a clear explanation of the bond that compels people to tolerate the intolerable, and for the first time, maps out the brain connection that makes being with hurtful people comparable to ‘a drug of choice.

‘ Most importantly, Carnes provides practical steps to identify compulsive attachment patterns and ultimately to change or end them for good. This new edition includes: New science for understanding how our brains can make a prison of bad relationships New assessments and insights based on 50,000 research participants A new section utilizing the latest findings in attachment research and narrative therapy to concretely rewrite and rescript bad experiences A redefinition of the factors contributing to addictive relationships.

Therapeutic exercises to help couples nurture patience, forgiveness and humour. Here is a workbook containing the very best exercises that any couple can undertake to help their relationship function optimally; exercises to foster understanding, patience, forgiveness, humour and resilience in the face of the many hurdles that invariably arise when you try to live with someone else for the long term.

Couples are guided to have particular conversations, analyse their feelings, explain parts of themselves to one another and undertake rituals that clear the air and help recover hope and passion. The goal is always to unblock channels of feeling and improve communication.

Not least, doing exercises together is – at points – simply a lot of fun.

The bestselling guide to transforming an intimate relationship into a lasting source of love and companionship. , with a new foreword and chapter from the author In “Getting the Love You Want,” Dr. Harville Hendrix presents the relationship skills that have already helped hundreds of thousands of couples to replace confrontation and criticism with a healing process of mutual growth and support.

This extraordinary practical guide describes the revolutionary technique of Imago Relationship Therapy, which combines a number of disciplines–including the behavioral sciences, depth psychology, cognitive therapy, and Gestalt therapy, among others– to create a program to resolve conflict and renew communication and passion.

“Getting the Love You Want” describes the three stages of intimate relationships, provides illustrative case studies and gives helpful recommendations to overcome the obstacles in those stages to create a stronger bond between couples.

First, he chronicles the stages of most relationships-attraction, romantic love and the power struggle-and suggests ways for partners to identify the conflicts associated with each of them. Then, he explores methods for achieving a “Conscious Marriage,” where the early phases of romance are rekindled and confrontation is slowly replaced by growth and support.

Finally, Dr. Hendrix incorporates these ideas into a unique therapeutic course, offering a series of proven exercises that lead to insight, resolution and revitalization. Step by step, he describes how to communicate with greater accuracy and sensitivity, how to let go of self-defeating behaviors, and how to focus energy on meeting each partners’ needs.

With” Getting the Love You Want” couples in any stage of a relationship can resolve their conflicts and achieve mutual emotional satisfaction.

How bad does a relationship have to be before getting out is the only answer? In this book, psychotherapist Mira Kirshenbaum draws on years of experience as a counselor–and includes actual case studies–to lead readers from a state of painful ambivalence to a clear sense of knowing what to do.

An invaluable resource for couples in which one or both partners have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), this authoritative book guides troubled partners towards an understanding and appreciation for the struggles and triumphs of a relationship affected by it, and to integrate ADHD into their relationship in a more positive and less disruptive way.

Going beyond traditional marriage counseling which can often discount the influence of ADHD, this discussion offers advice from the author’s personal experience and years of research and identifies patterns of behavior that can hurt marriages–such as nagging, intimacy problems, sudden anger, and memory issues–through the use of descriptions of actual couples and their ADHD struggles and solutions.

The first third of the book is dedicated to helping couples identify how ADHD impacts their relationship. The last two-thirds provides a specific set of steps couples can move through to overcome their hurt and anger, once again develop loving ways to interact with each other, and find the joy they’ve lost in their struggles.

This book encourages both spouses to become active partners in improving their relationship and healing the fissures that ADHD can cause. Also included are worksheets and various methods for difficult conversations so that couples can find a technique that fits their unique relationship and improve their communication skills.

Boundaries in Dating offers illuminating insights for romance that can help you grow in freedom, honesty, and self-control as you pursue healthy dating limits that can lead to a happy marriage. – Dating can be fun, but it’s not easy.

Meeting people is just the first step. Once you’ve met someone, then what? Should you move on, pursue a simple friendship, or more? How do you set smart limits on your physical relationship? How much do you get involved financially? And how do you know if you’ve found your future spouse? Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, answer all of these questions and more.

Helping you bridge the pitfalls of dating, Drs. Cloud and Townsend share their practical advice for adding healthy boundaries to your dating life. – Boundaries in Dating unfolds a wise, biblical path to developing self-control, freedom, and intimacy.

Let Drs. Cloud and Townsend help you get to know yourself, solve problems, and enjoy the journey of dating and finding your life partner. – Full of insightful, real-life examples, this much-needed book will give you the tools you need to: Recognize and choose quality over perfection in a dating partner – Prioritize friendship within your relationship – Preserve friendships by separating between platonic relationships and romantic interest – Move past denial to handle real relational problems in a realistic and hopeful way – Enjoy this season of life.

Learn when to say yes and when to say no–to your spouse and to others–to make the most of your marriageOnly when a husband and wife know and respect each other’s needs, choices, and freedom can they give themselves freely and lovingly to one another.

Boundaries are the “property lines” that define and protect husbands and wives as individuals. Once they are in place, a good marriage can become better, and a less-than-satisfying one can even be saved.

Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the award-winning best-seller Boundaries, show couples how to apply the 10 laws of boundaries that can make a real difference in relationships.

They help husbands and wives understand the friction points or serious hurts and betrayals in their marriage—and move beyond them to the mutual care, respect, affirmation, and intimacy they both long for.

Boundaries in Marriage helps couples:* Set and maintain personal boundaries and respect those of their spouse* Establish values that form a godly structure and architecture for their marriage* Protect their marriage from different kinds of “intruders”* Work with a spouse who understands and values boundaries—or work with one who doesn’t.

Most people spend far more time in preparation for their vocation than they do in preparation for marriage says Dr. Gary, with more than 35 years of counseling couples, believes that divorce is the lack of preparation for marriage and the failure to learn the skills of working together as intimate teammates.

So he put together this practical little book, packed with wisdom and tips that will help many develop the loving, supportive and mutually beneficial marriage men and women long for. It’s the type of information Gary himself wished he had before he got married.

Reflections Of A Man is a book designed for both men and women to enhance the quality of their personal relationships. For the women, it encourages you to recognize the true value of your love, to reevaluate your standards and to make the decision that you will no longer settle for anything less than someone who loves you, respects you, and truly makes you happy.

For the men, this book will not only encourage you to learn more about the emotional needs of a woman, but it will provide you with clear insight into what a woman truly needs from you, emotionally, to be happy.

Through beautiful words of poetry, powerful quotes and advice full of wisdom, Mr. Amari Soul creates a truly enlightening experience for both men and women with Reflections Of A Man. On one hand, women gain a new perspective on the true value of their love, raise their standards and refuse to settle.

On the other hand, men become better equipped to, not only understand a woman’s emotional needs, but they are better able to meet or exceed their new standards as well.

Just as Masters and Johnson were pioneers in the study of human sexuality, so Dr. John Gottman has revolutionized the study of marriage. As a professor of psychology at the University of Washington and the founder and director of the Seattle Marital and Family Institute, he has studied the habits of married couples in unprecedented detail over the course of many years.

His findings, and his heavily attended workshops, have already turned around thousands of faltering marriages. – This book is the culmination of his life’s work: the seven principles that guide couples on the path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship.

Straightforward in their approach, yet profound in their effect, these principles teach partners new and startling strategies for making their marriage work. Gottman helps couples focus on each other, on paying attention to the small day-to-day moments that, strung together, make up the heart and soul of any relationship.

Being thoughtful about ordinary matters provides spouses with a solid foundation for resolving conflict when it does occur and finding strategies for living with those issues that cannot be resolved.

– Packed with questionnaires and exercises whose effectiveness has been proven in Dr. Gottman’s workshops,The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationship to attain its highest potential.

John Gottman’s many years of closely observing thousands of marriages. This kind of longitudinal research has never been done before. Based on his findings, he has culled seven principles essential to the success of any marriage.

– Maintain a love map. Foster fondness and admiration. Turn toward instead of away. Accept influence. Solve solvable conflicts. Cope with conflicts you can’t resolve. Create shared meaning. – Dr. Gottman’s unique questionnaires and exercises will guide couples on the road to revitalizing their marriage, or making a strong one even better.