'This book highlights the fact that women are brought up to understand men's emotional needs but men are not brought up to understand women's.' Woman Many women today feel that they pour love, commitment and understanding into their relationships, but that it is not returned in kind. He seems secure and independent, she feels insecure and clingy. The truth is that men and women are both dependent. But his needs are catered to so well - first by his mother, then by his girlfriend or wife - that he doesn't know he has them, while her needs for closeness and tenderness are constantly rebuffed as he retreats from intimacy. Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum set out to explore this crisis in the relationships of men and women. They explain how men have learned to 'manage' their dependency needs very differently to women, and why women feel dependent and hungry for love. Finally they show why dependency on both sides is the essential core of any successful relationship.

The modern relationship is in crisis. Why? In this pioneering work, Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum pinpoint the deceptively simply question that lies at the root of all its problems and ask - what do women want? Torn between all the demands of today's society, many women feel that they pour love, commitment and understanding into their relationships, but that it is not returned in kind. He seems secure and independent, she feels insecure and needy. The truth is that both men and women are dependent... In crystal-clear prose, Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum explore the relationships of men and women, explaining how men have learned to "manage" their dependency needs very differently to women, and why women feel so dependent and hungry for love. They show conclusively why dependency on both sides is the essential core of any successful relationship and how it offers a new blueprint for the future. First published in 1983, this feminist classic has been thoroughly revised for today's audience. Its message is as relevant as ever.

Understanding Women is a classic. Luise Eichenbaum & Susie Orbach, co-founders of The Women's Therapy Centre, showcase their understanding of women's psychology through case vignettes of the many women they have worked with. Their original and enlightening theory brings the mother-daughter relationship into the heart of a girl's developing self. They explain women's often troubled relationship to their bodies, the myths around emotional dependency and independence, the dilemmas of sexuality, and the need to re-theorise attachment and differentiation so that it speaks to women's experience. The book discusses the process of therapy and the challenges on the therapist to exemplify a new way of working with women in psychotherapy.

The crucial struggle between connectedness and autonomy and its effect on friendships between women forms the heart of this brilliant and timely book. Helps develop a sense of self in order to enjoy richer friendships.