The Intimacy Factor: The Ground Rules for Overcoming the Obstacles to Truth, Respect, and Lasting Love

Good boundary work; quit it with the AA stuff!

Pia Mellody notes in the beginning of THE INTIMACY FACTOR that her deepest reason for writing the book was "to acknowledge the role of spirituality in intimate relationships." This is in itself is a worthy goal; spirituality (general, not within a specfic religious framework) as specifically applied to relationships is not addressed often enough, and it's a frequently forgotten part of too many partnerships. Mellody writes that true sprituality is the realization that God is Love and we can trust in that Love. That love is what restores to us the truth of our own inherent worth, thereby enabling us to have truly intimate relationships with other human beings.Following an initial discussion along these lines, Mellody spends most of the rest of the book describing the concept of boundaries -- the "psychological passages" through which we both express our truth and recieve the emotions and words of others. She explains how functional boundaries lead to a... read more