Tell Me the Truth About Love: 13 Tales from the Therapist's Couch (Hardback) - Susanna Abse

'A must-read for everyone wanting to understand more about what makes us fall in - and out - of love' Philippa Perry

'A charming, useful, kind book about the pains and hopes of relationships' Alain de Botton


'Wonderfully wise... Susanna writes with clarity and warmth in a voice that is steeped in decades of experience and means we trust her. Her gentle humour is also a joy.' Julia Samuel

Drawing on over 30 years of therapeutic encounters with people facing hurdles in their love lives, former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council Susanna Abse takes us deep inside one of the most fascinating realms there is: other people's relationships.

Candid and captivating, each chapter is inspired by a classic, timeless story. Parents blow their straw house down; Rapunzel yearns for companionship but remains trapped in her castle. Couples strive to navigate the fall from Eden, the bitter taste of the poison apple and strangers in their beds.

From dealing with infidelity to navigating our changing role within a single relationship over the course of a lifetime, Tell Me the Truth About Love sheds vivid light on the human heart, and its struggle to both embrace life's greatest gift and protect itself from pain. Inside, you will find solace, wisdom and unparalleled insight into how, and why, we love.

About the Author

Susanna Abse is a psychoanalytic therapist who has worked in private practice with couples, individuals and parents since 1991. She is the former chair of The British Psychoanalytic Council and was CEO of the charity Tavistock Relationships from 2006 until 2016. She has also recently been presenting Britain on the Couch for Channel 4 News. She has published widely on couple therapy, parenting, and family policy and how these areas need to be at the heart of progressive welfare provision, a subject on which she lectures and teaches.

Susanna is a Senior Fellow of the Tavistock Institute for Medical Psychology, a fellow of the Centre for Social Policy at Dartington; a previous Leadership Fellow at St George's House, Windsor Castle, as well as a Member of the Advisory Board of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. She is also Co-Editor of The Library of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis for Routledge Books. Between 2016-18, she was a member of the University of Birmingham mental health policy commission, "Investing in a Resilient Generation".