Invisible Chains Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship

When you are showered with attention, it can feel incredibly romantic and can blind you to hints of problems ahead. But what happens when attentiveness becomes domination? In some relationships, the desire to control leads to jealousy, gaslighting, threats, micromanaging--even physical violence. If you or someone you care about are trapped in a web of coercive control, this book provides answers, hope, and a way out. Lisa Aronson Fontes draws on both professional expertise and personal experience to help you:

*Recognize controlling behaviors of all kinds.
*Understand why this destructive pattern occurs.
*Determine whether you are in danger and if your partner can change.
*Protect yourself and your kids.
*Find the support and resources you need.
*Take action to improve or end your relationship.
*Regain your freedom and independence.

Lisa Aronson Fontes, PhD, earned a doctorate in counseling psychology and has worked in the areas of child abuse, violence against women, and difficult family issues for over 25 years. A professor, researcher, and popular conference speaker, she teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She survived a relationship of coercive control and stalking.

About This Book
I. What Is Coercive Control?
Introduction
1. Controlling Behaviors
II. Why Coercive Control Happens
2. Why Some Men Control Their Partners in This Way
3. Why Some Women Get and Stay Involved
III. Coercive Control in Special Populations
4. Different Gender Arrangements and Coercive Control
5. Teenage Victims of Coercive Control
IV. Ending Coercive Control
6. Are You Being Victimized?
7. Are You Staying? Expecting Change?
8. Ending the Relationship
9. Feeling Like Yourself Again: Recovering from Coercive Control
10. If Someone You Care About Is Being Victimized by Coercive Control
11. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Resources
References