I so wanted to like this book...
In my therapy practice I work with a lot of womxn that are trying to change unhelpful relationship and attachment patterns and want to decrease post-break up anxious or insecure attachment-fueled patterns like obsessive or intrusive thoughts and behaviors towards their ex. I was so excited that this might be a new resource to help, but, sadly, I was overall really disappointed with it and am not likely to recommend it to my clients.
Here's What I Did Not Like, From a Therapeutic Perspective:
- Heavily Relies on the 12-Step Model of Addiction Recovery: I am very much not aligned with the 12-step model for the treatment of anything for various reasons - one of which being that it is disempowering imo, deeply entrenched with religiosity, and perpetuates shame and guilt. You don't need to be religious or surrender to a higher power to change cognitive/behavioral patterns or cope with a break up.
-Unhelpful Labeling/Judgment Based Language: Labeling and shame based language are inherent in the 12 step model so it makes sense that I felt much of the book used shame/blame/illness-based language. While relationship patterns can have similarities with patterns of addiction, the idea of addiction in the book seemed to carry a tone of moral failing or poor willpower. The cognitive/behavioral patterns in our relationships are often rooted in patterns of attachment (an adaptive, fundamental survival need) and it takes time and effort to begin to notice and change these patterns. In addition, anxiety and other mental health diagnoses can include intrusive thoughts, obsessive thoughts, and compulsive behaviors that are not selected by the individual.
There also seemed to be a tinge of religiosity, stereotypes, and judgments throughout the book that may have been related to the author not being fully aware of her own internal biases coming out in her writing.
-"Forgiveness": The author encourages "forgiveness" of an ex in a way that felt like a religious trope. I'm not saying forgiveness is a bad thing, if someone apologizes and you choose to forgive them that's wonderful. But I disagree with the idea that someone must forgive in order to heal from a break up. "Forgiveness" has implications of wiping the slate clean, absolving responsibility, or ceasing to have any negative emotions. The idea of "forgiveness" in this way could arguably contribute to gaslighting, toxic positivity, and potentially the unreasonable expectation for someone coming out of a toxic or abusive relationship to forgive their abuser. Regardless of the situation, you are not required to "forgive" someone to heal and move forward.
Rather than "forgiveness", I encourage the practice of moving towards cognitive, behavioral, and emotional "acceptance" of the current reality of your particular situation. This includes accepting facts about the situation and decreasing black and white judgments of the situation, your emotions about it, or the people involved. However, acceptance doesn't require you to be "ok" with the other person or what happened. With acceptance you are allowed to have negative thoughts and feelings. Acceptance can take time, allows for nuance, and allows the existence of a completely normal grief process that includes hurt, anger, anxiety, etc. after a break up. And each break up comes with it's own set of factors that can impact how easy or difficult it is to accept.
-Apologizing to Your Ex: I often work with people that have been conditioned to people-please and as a result tend to over-apologize and self-blame. Everyone's situation is different and it's unhelpful to advise that everyone must apologize to heal from a break up. If apologizing happens it's should be after you have given yourself time to reflect on and acknowledge what you are responsible for, what was not aligned with how you want to show up in the world/what was damaging to the other person, you are clear on your goal for the apology and that goal is realistic and helpful ideally to both parties, you have considered how you will manage your reactions that may come up around any type of response/non-response from the other person. You also need to be mindful of if the other person has made any boundary requests of you that reaching out to apologize might violate.
- Basic Suggestions: The concepts are pretty intro-level Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) skills and if you are a provider, have been in therapy before, or are an avid self-help reader you likely will already be aware of the basic thought and behavior tracking, thought stopping, cognitive reframing, and behavior change skills mentioned.
- Little Focus on Challenges or Nuance: The book deals with pretty straightforward situations and doesn't offer a lot of suggestions for navigating common internal or external barriers that are likely to come up while navigating a break up. The practice exercises are also pretty textbook, idealistic. It doesn't convey the amount of time and non-linear process that might come with the grief around healing from a break up.
- Heavy Focus on Direct Contact: The suggestions deal mostly with lingering direct, overt contact with an ex - like continuing to reach out to them or see them. It does not focus as much as I had hoped on managing common indirect or internal forms of continued contact like obsessive or intrusive thoughts or behaviors that can get in the way of healing and can be amplified by other factors like anxiety, fear of abandonment, trauma, etc. The author does mention noting these indirect behaviors, tracking them, and not acting on them, but not much on ways to break these cycles or deal with barriers that can come up. Our own thoughts and behaviors can contribute just as much to staying stuck in a break up as actual continued direct contact with the person, so this can be something helpful to explore with a therapist or brainstorm some ideas on your own of ways you can set yourself up for success to decrease engagement in these patterns.
-CBT Only: It is right in the title, but imo Cogntive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on its own can feel invalidating and is like only equipping someone with a hammer for a job they need multiple, specialized tools for. Some life events, inclusive of things we might experience in relationships or break ups, genuinely and objectively can make life more difficult and painful regardless of how much you try to remain optimistic. Not acknowledging difficulties can lead to increasing invalidation of self and get in the way of fully processing and addressing the situation. Some amount of tracking, questioning, and reframing our automatic thoughts is necessary, but it shouldn't be your only tool and it may not be sufficient for every situation.
- It wasn't great at explaining the idea of core beliefs we internalize in childhood and attachment issues that can impact how we approach relationships, breakups, and how we view self and others in the contexts of these situations.
- There is not enough acknowledgement of abusive relationships and ways the suggestions might not be applicable or safe in those situations.
-The booked is geared towards primarily cis, hetero, monogamous couples, but may have some information that is adaptable to others.
Some Pros:
- I'm glad the book exists so hopefully it can open the door to the creation of other resources on this topic.
-Some people may have no support or resources to help them get through a break up and this book would still be more helpful than nothing.
- There is still some useful information in it if you can maintain awareness of the problematic parts and adapt it to your situation.
-It could be helpful if you are new to CBT and thought/behavior tracking.
Summary:
As a therapist I'm not likely to recommend this book to my clients primarily because I felt it was heavy on shame, judgment, and atonement based language and suggestions from a 12 step framework. It lacked nuance and depth into addressing aspects of "addictive" behaviors that can occur post-break up. Two stars because it could be an ok introduction to thought/behavior tracking for a break up if you are new to self help, but I would still encourage discussing your insights/exercises with your own therapist as you go along for additional support.
*This review is not intended as therapy or mental health/medical advice*