Imago Relationship Therapy: Perspectives On Theory

It's been more than three decades since Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt -- the best-selling authors of Getting the Love You Want and Keeping the Love You Find -- created Imago Relationship Therapy. Their concept of the conscious marriage introduced a new paradigm for understanding the dynamics of couples. Since that time more than two thousand clinicians in twenty-eight countries have adopted and implemented this highly effective form of couples therapy. This groundbreaking book offers an overview of the highly successful Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT) and the relationship of IRT with preceding schools of thought such as psychoanalytic theory, family systems theories, affect theory, and self-psychology. At the heart of IRT is a three-step process involving mirroring (reflecting) the partner's feelings, validating the partner's point of view, and the expressing empathy toward the partner's feelings. Imago Relationship Therapy traces IRT's history and explosive growth and outlines the differences and similarities between Imago theory and other models of couples therapy. The book also presents some of the ideas of prominent Imago thinkers, such as the central role of connectivity and the problem of envy in committed relationships.

Harville Hendrix is the author or coauthor, with his wife, Helen LaKelly Hunt, of six books, including the best-sellers Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples and Keeping the Love You Find: A Personal Guide.

Mo Therese Hannah is associate professor of psychology at Siena College in Latham, New York, and managing editor of the Journal of Imago Relationship Therapy.

Wade Luquet is associate professor of sociology at Gwynedd-Mercy College in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, and a coeditor of the Journal of Imago Relationship Therapy.