Silent Agreements: How to Uncover Unspoken Expectations and Save Your Relationship

Silent Agreements will help readers define the unspoken beliefs and expectations that might be causing dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and resentment in their relationships, giving them the tools to explore these agreements and work toward healthier communication with a partner, friend, boss, or family member.

If you have relationships, you’ve likely been part of silent agreements. Silent agreements are the arrangements you enter without discussion–scenarios between you and your partner, your kids, your friends, your boss, etc.–that you take for granted. They sound something like this, I want to be more than friends with benefits, but I don’t want to scare him away, so I won’t tell him, or The boss doesn’t offer me a raise, and I won’t ask for one. These agreements can hinder your relationships, remaining undiscussed because of guilt, feelings of obligation, aversion to conflict, and fear. Clinical psychologists Linda, Sonia, and Michele will help you navigate these unspoken expectations and previously held beliefs and teach you how to bring these agreements out in the open. With chapters on sex, money, commitment, family, the workplace, and health, you’ll learn how to approach conflict and discuss those land-mine topics before they do irreparable damage to your relationships.