The Love Prescription

Seven Days to More Intimacy, Connection, and Joy

By: John Gottman PhD, Julie Schwartz Gottman PhD

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Kiiri Sandy

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“This book feels so hopeful because it’s direct, it’s really honest, and it’s so actionable.” —Brene Brown

From New York Times–bestselling authors Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, a simple yet powerful plan to transform your relationship in seven days

What makes love last? Why does one couple stay together forever, while another falls apart? And most importantly, is there a scientific formula for love?

Drs. John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman are the world’s leading relationship scientists. For the past forty years, they have been studying love. They’ve gathered data on over three thousand couples, looking at everything from their body language to the way they converse to their stress hormone levels. Their goal: to identify the building blocks of love.

The Love Prescription distills their life’s work into a bite-size, seven-day action plan with easy, immediately actionable steps. There will be no grand gestures and no big, hard conversations. There’s nothing to buy or do to prepare. Anyone can do this, from any starting point.

The seven-day prescription will lead you through these exercises:

Day 1: Make Contact
Day 2: Ask a Big Question
Day 3: Say Thank You
Day 4: Give a Real Compliment
Day 5: Ask for What You Need
Day 6: Reach Out and Touch
Day 7: Declare a Date Night

There is a formula for a good relationship, and this book will show you how a few small changes can fundamentally transform your relationship for the better.

Critic reviews

Praise for Drs. John and Julie Gottman and The Love Prescription

“Think you can’t make relationship changes in a week? Drs. John and Julie Gottman say, yes, actually, you can—and they have 40 years of breakthrough research on marital stability and divorce prediction to prove it. . . . This book feels so hopeful because it’s direct, it’s really honest, and it’s so actionable.”
—Brene Brown

“By distilling decades of research into seven simple strategies, their book can offer an intervention that is easy and fun. There are no hard conversations required . . . Each chapter introduces a specific relationship-building exercise that can help in any relationship stage . . . It reminded us that no matter how busy we get, we do actually have enough time to be kind to each other.”
—The New York Times

“The Gottmans are the nation’s leading marriage researchers and educators.”
—Time

“John and Julie Gottman are the renowned experts on marital stability.”
—The Atlantic

“The Einstein of Love.”
—Psychology Today

“Whether you’re looking to fix specific problems or get the most out of your marriage or romantic relationship, couples therapists John and Julie Gottman will get you moving in the right direction. . . . There isn’t a marriage or romantic partnership out there that won’t benefit from this book.”
—New York Journal of Books

“A road map toward a better marriage. . . . The authors have devised simple practices designed to teach partners how to relate to each other in productive ways. . . . Warm encouragement for healing troubled relationships.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The astute guidance is straightforward without being obvious, and the authors excel at distilling sharp lessons from client stories. Couples should consider making this enlightening guide required reading.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Such a great book

Quick and easy.
Small things that can really make a huge difference in your relationships. Highly recommend!

Invaluable!

The Gottmans have written a ton of books that seem to say the same basic things, but have added a few bits of information over the years. This is a good summary of the things that can actually help your marriage. You can skip most the previous books. If you can do what is in this one and the "8 Dates" book, your marriage will survive.

EXACTLY what I/we needed

This was such an easy, enjoyable listen! The book lays out 7 simple steps to try each day. I listened to a chapter each night and started applying the ideas right away. Within days, I saw real changes—just from working on myself without my partner knowing. It helped me fix what wasn’t working and build on what was. After a week, it feels like I got six months of couples therapy! The authors turn decades of research into clear, actionable steps for a healthier, more loving relationship. I’m excited to start again and keep the progress going!

gives concrete ideas

This book gives concrete and actionable steps to help improve or strengthen your marriage

It works!

As a couple we started the 7 day daily suggestions. The "turning in" is a game changer. It was a positive experience in our communication and realization of when we were actually "turning away" was counter- productive in our relationship.
Writing down daily notes, sharing our wins and what we noticed in the small positive changes actually put the fun and playfulness back into our relationship! We will be using the 7 day to refresh around our yearly anniversary. Easy to do when we were both are on the same page and committed to the process.