by Cecily Cooper

Created on: August 06, 2008

The Top Ten Relationship Experts

Most couples will admit that it takes work to maintain a healthy relationship. During those first exciting stages of dating, everyone is wearing their best party manners. It can be hard to find fault with one another. Those minor character flaws might be perceived as endearing or quirky in the beginning. Six months later, they're called perpetually annoying habits or unbearable irritants.

When two people try to build on that initial bliss, problems can and do arise. Compromise becomes a necessity, and the glaring reality of imperfection shines like a spotlight. Relationship experts say people are rarely emotionally stagnant, even when they are one-half of the ideal pair. Combine the routine life challenges with a few unavoidable surprises and the most stable couples can sometimes find that they need help.

Where do they turn most often for relationship advice? After confiding in a trusted friend, but before seeking full-fledged professional counseling, many will head straight for the bookstore's self-help aisle. It's an amazingly successful billion-dollar industry aimed specifically at doling out advice to the lovelorn, loveless, or heartbroken.

The business now targets relationship seekers, recovering divorcees and every other imaginable aspect of the mating dance. There's a do-it-yourself book for everything relationships. Add in seminars, retreats, television and radio shows, websites and audio books and you have a full-blown empire.

To name the most effective relationship experts would be difficult and subjective; but a "Who's Who" list has emerged over the years. Each has a unique style and a different claim to fame. Their devoted audiences are as varied as their credentials and techniques. From the conventional to the unusual, here's a list of the world's most highly recognized names in the relationship advice industry:

Dr. Ruth Westheimer
The diminutive 80-year-old psychosexual therapist, known simply as "Dr. Ruth," was one of the first people ever to bring frank discussions of human sexuality to the forefront and into the living room. Her radio show, Sexually Speaking, which started as an "after-hours" listener call-in program, first aired in 1980. This icon has since authored numerous books, hosted her own television show, launched a number of games and videos, and still operates her very popular website.

Dr. Philip McGraw
"Dr. Phil" is sure to go down in history as a no-nonsense relationship expert and the epitome of

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>