Private Lies: Infidelity and the Betrayal of Intimacy - Softcover

Pittman, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393307077 ISBN 13: 9780393307078

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1990

Synopsis

Why do half the people in marriages have affairs? What problems are they trying to solve?

Using actual case studies, as well as examples from music, literature, and film, Dr. Pittman identifies four basic patterns of infidelity―the accidental encounter, habitual philandering, marital arrangements, and romance―discussed how to limit the damage that affairs do, and offers practical suggestions on how to make a marriage work.

About this title

About the Author:

Frank Pittman, M.D., was a psychiatrist and family therapist in Atlanta, Georgia. A renowned author of many books, he also wrote a regular column, "Ask Dr. Frank", which appeared in Psychology Today, and was a regular contributor to Psychotherapy Networker. He died in 2012.

From Publishers Weekly:

For people who suspect their spouses are having a secret romantic affair, or are coping with the aftermath of one, this primer offers sensible counsel, albeit in pedestrian, chatty prose. From case studies of 100 adulterous couples whom he has treated, Pittman, a psychiatrist in Atlanta, draws profiles of four basic patterns of betrayal: accidental flings which "just happen"; habitual philandering, which he believes to be motivated by insecurity and fear of the opposite sex; crazy, in-love romantic states that cloud one's judgment; and marital arrangements ranging from sexual supplements to flamboyant revenge affairs. His deflation of "popular myths" about affairs is less than startling. More helpful are sections on what to look for in a marriage partner, dealing with jealousy, remarriage (unions between a divorcing partner and the "affairee" have a low success rate) and the traumatic effects of secret affairs on children. First serial to Self.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0393307077
• ISBN 13: 9780393307078
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 309