Product Review

Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) posits that people grow through and toward relationship throughout the lifespan.  Rather than emphasizing movement toward autonomy and self-sufficiency, it focuses on the power of connection in people’s lives. Culture and power are seen as formative in individual and social development. As a model, RCT is ideal for work with couples: it encourages active participation in relationships, fosters the well-being of everyone involved, and provides guidelines for working with disconnections and building relational resilience. Creating Connection helps readers to understand the pain of disconnection and to use RCT to heal relationships in a variety of settings, including with heterosexual couples, stepparents, lesbian and gay couples, and mixed race couples. In addition to an emphasis on helping couples find authentic connection, RCT points to the need for changing the cultural conditions that contribute to the problems of disconnection. Polarities of “you vs. me” will be replaced with the healing concept of “us.”