What Makes Love Last?: How to Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal

Dr. John Gottman, the country's preeminent researcher on marriage, is famous for his Love Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle where he deciphers the mysteries of human relationships through scientific research. His thirty-five years of exploration have earned him numerous awards, including from the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Now, Dr. Gottman offers surprising findings and advice on the characteristic that is at the heart of all relationships: Trust. Dr. Gottman has developed a formula that precisely calculates any couple's loyalty level. The results determine a relationship's likely future, including the potential for one or both partners to stray. What Makes Love Last? shows couples how to bolster their trust level and avoid what Dr. Gottman calls the "Roach Motel for Lovers." He describes how the outcome of "sliding door moments," small pivotal points between a couple, can lead either to more emotional connection or to discontent. He suggests a new approach to handling adultery and reveals the varied and unexpected non-sexual ways that couples often betray each other. What Makes Love Last? guides couples through an empirically tested, trust-building program that will help them repair and maintain any long-term, intimate romantic relationship.

One of the foremost relationship experts at work today applies the insights of science toward understanding the real meaning of trust in a relationship, revealing how partners can avoid or recover from unfaithfulness and maintain a loving relationship.

Nan Silver is a former magazine editor and the coauthor, with John Gottman, of Why Marriages Succeed or Fail and The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. She lives in New York. John Gottman, Ph.D., is a New York Times bestselling author and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. With his wife, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, he is the co-founder and co-director of the Gottman Institute, an organization that offers educational materials, therapists' and couples' workshops, and therapy to couples and families. He has published over 190 papers and is the author or coauthor of over two dozen books, including The Marriage Clinic, The Relationship Cure, and Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. John has appeared on television programs including Good Morning America and the The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been profiled in such publications as the New York Times, Glamour, People, and Psychology Today.