As a clinical social worker and marriage and family therapist, I do a lot of marriage counseling and couples work. I have found that Aaron Beck's 'Love is Never Enough' is the clearest and most effective book to use with couples. Additionally, it has the best outcome.



Couples, under a therapist's guidance, can use this book together. It is easy to read, has great hand-outs and is pragmatic. It focuses on the day-to-day issues that many couples find themselves getting stuck on.



While I think that couples could try to use this book themselves without a therapist's guidance, and are likely to benefit from it, this would apply only to couples who do not have serious issues. Couples with serious issues need to work with a therapist. A book alone is not sufficient.