Intimate Relationships: Some Social Work Perspectives on Love

Experts present insightful perspectives on the social worker's role in the counseling of clients who have problems with love. As the social work profession recognizes that love and intimacy are essential ingredients of individual and collective social functioning, efforts are underway to legitimize the study of the complexities, problems, and characteristics of intimate human relationships. This book examines the dynamics of different kinds of love—love of self, love toward others, and love between client and therapist. Other topics include romantic love “scripts” and their influence on people's relationships, sex-role conditioning, special concerns of adolescents, the elderly, and gay men and lesbians.