***As seen on NBC's TODAY Show*** When Loose Girl author Kerry Cohen reached her early 40s, she realized she was drinking too much. Her alcohol dependence was not obvious - she was still getting her kids to school in the morning and working a full day as a clinical psychologist. But when five o'clock rolled around, she was more than ready for a glass of wine. Or maybe two. Or maybe the whole bottle. And while she may have been drinking alone, Cohen realized she was not alone in her struggle. Lush is a fiercely honest exploration of the nature of alcoholism and alcohol recovery among middle-aged women, and Cohen's decision to use the controversial moderation management program to curb her nightly binges. For any woman who has wondered how much wine is too much wine, Cohen provides a provocative and eye-opening look at the culture of drinking through the lens of her own experience.

For anyone who has wondered Why does everyone else seem to be able to make romantic relationships work, and I can't? What's wrong with me? Why is love so hard? Psychologist and bestselling memoirist Kerry Cohen is all too familiar with the questions she often hears from her clients-and has asked herself. Even though sex and love are some of the most universal, sought-after experiences we have, many of us lack the tools and understanding to approach them in a healthy way. Without knowing it, many people struggling with sex and love actually fall somewhere on the spectrum of sex and love addiction (SLA). Sex and love addiction is still wildly misunderstood. It's shrouded in secrecy and shame, and many counselors lack the training to address it-leaving people who need help without resources. Yet SLA isn't a binary of you are or you aren't, rather, it's a spectrum. Kerry Cohen knows this all too well as both a therapist and someone who identifies on the SLA spectrum. Based on research and her own clinical experience, Crazy for You dives into SLA and provides an inclusive framework for understanding relationships, along with practical exercises and advice for self-assessment, discovery, and healing:Part one explains the sex and love addiction spectrum, helping you determine where you fall on it and how you got therePart two introduces strategies for breaking the spell of sex and love addiction, like behavior modifications and self-awareness techniquesPart three teaches you how to navigate healthy, safe, and fulfilling relationships

For everyone who was that girl. Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction-not just to sex, but to male attention-Loose Girl is also the story of a young woman who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. For everyone who knew that girl. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a you try to control someone by handing over your body, when the touch of that person seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness. Kerry Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is an unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, and speaks to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love. For the thousands of people who have found their voice in this book, and the thousands more who will.

Baring the Truth in Your Memoir When you write a memoir or personal essay, you dare to reveal the truths of your experience: about yourself, and about others in your life. How do you expose long-guarded secrets and discuss bad behavior? How do you gracefully portray your family members, friends, spouses, exes, and children without damaging your relationships? How do you balance your respect for others with your desire to tell the truth? In The Truth of Memoir, best-selling memoirist Kerry Cohen provides insight and guidelines for depicting the characters who appear in your work with honesty and compassion. You'll learn how to choose which details to include and which secrets to tell, how to render the people in your life artfully and fully on the page, and what reactions you can expect from those you include in your work--as well as from readers and the media. Featuring over twenty candid essays from memoirists sharing their experiences and advice, as well as exercises for writing about others in your memoirs and essays, The Truth of Memoir will give you the courage and confidence to write your story--and all of its requisite characters--with truth and grace. "Kerry Cohen's The Truth of Memoir is a smart, soulful, psychologically astute guide to first-person writing. She reveals everything you want to know--but were afraid to ask--about telling your life story." --Susan Shapiro, author of eight books including Only As Good as Your Word, and co-author of The Bosnia List

Seeing Ezra is the soulful, beautifully written memoir of a mother's fierce love for her autistic son, and a poignant examination of what it means to be normal. When Kerry Cohen's son Ezra turns one, a babysitter suggests he may be different, setting her family on a path in which autism dominates their world. As he becomes a toddler and they navigate the often rigid and prescriptive world of therapy, Cohen is unsettled by the evaluations they undergo: At home, Ezra is playfully expressive, sharing profound, touching moments of connection and intimacy with his mother and other family members, but in therapy he is pathologized, prodded to behave in ways that undermine his unique expression of autism. It soon becomes clear that more is at stake than just Ezra's well-being; Cohen and her marriage are suffering as well. Ezra's differentness, and the strain of pursuing varied therapies, takes a toll on the family--Cohen's husband grows depressed and she pursues an affair--all as she tries to help others recognize and embrace Ezra's uniqueness rather than force him to behave outside his comfort level. It isn't until they abandon the expected, prescriptive notions about love, marriage, and individuality that they are able to come back together as two parents who fiercely love their little boy. Powerful and eye-opening, Seeing Ezra is an inspirational chronicle of a mother's struggle to protect her son from a system that seeks to compartmentalize and fix him, and of her journey toward accepting and valuing him for who he is--just as he is.

Cliches like shop 'til you drop and retail therapy tend to be associated with women--women with maxed-out credit cards, stuffed shoe racks, and overflowing closets. Women are oh-so superficial, and irresponsible, and greedy--or so the stereotype goes. In Spent, editor Kerry Cohen opens the closet doors wide to tales of women's true relationships with shopping. From humorous stories of hating the mall to heartbreaking tales of overspending to fix relationships, the essays each shine light on the particular impact shopping has on all of us. Whether they're cleaning out closets, dividing up family possessions, hiding a shoplifting habit, trying out extreme couponing, buying a brand-new car while in labor, or coping with aging, the book's contributors vacillate between convincing themselves to spend and struggling not to. This illuminating anthology links the effects shopping has on our emotions--whether it fills us with guilt, happiness, resentment, or doubt--our self-worth, and our relationships with parents, grandparents, lovers, children, and friends. With a contributor list that includes notable female writers like Emily Chenoweth, Ophira Eisenberg, Allison Amend, and Aryn Kyle, Spent shares an honest look at how shopping truly affects our lives.