Julie Schwartz Gottman (born April 7, 1951) is an American clinical psychologist, researcher, speaker, and author. Together with her husband and collaborator,
John Gottman
John Mordechai Gottman (born April 26, 1942) is an American psychologist, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. His work focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses. The lessons d ...
, she is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute – an organization dedicated to strengthening relationships through research-based products and programs. She is the co-creator of the Sound Relationship House Theory, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and The Art and Science of Love weekend workshop for couples, among other programs. In addition to her internationally recognized clinical work, Julie Schwartz Gottman is the author or co-author of six books – ''Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage, And Baby Makes Three, 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, The Man's Guide to Women, The Marriage Clinic Casebook, and The Science of Couples and Family Therapy''. She is also the co-author of over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Early life and education
Julie Schwartz Gottman was born in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, the daughter of Marvin and Selma Schwartz. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in psychology at
Colorado College
Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...
in 1974. In the years following college, she completed an
MEd in community
mental health counseling
A mental health counselor (MHC), or counselor (counsellor in British English), is a person who works with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health. Such persons may help individuals deal with issues associated with ad ...
from
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...
Graduate School of Education in 1976 and later, lived in India and Nepal for a year that included serving people in poverty in Calcutta. After returning to the U.S. in 1979, she earned a Master of Arts (MA) in
Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...
in 1981 and PhD from the
California School of Professional Psychology
The California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) was founded in 1969 by the California Psychological Association. It is part of the for-profit Alliant International University where each campus's Clinical Psychology Psy.D. and Ph.D. prog ...
(CSPP), San Diego in 1985.
Career
Julie Schwartz Gottman began her professional career while at college, where she helped establish a counseling center for rape survivors, combat veterans, and others in need. After moving to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, she worked with patients who had
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
or heroin addiction in a
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
outpatient program in the
Boston "combat zone." Between 1976 and 1978, she served as psychiatric staff at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
Medical Center Psychiatric Crisis Unit where she continued to treat impoverished individuals with serious mental illnesses.
After returning from India, her clinical work included residential treatment for young adults with
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
, and individual and group work with incest survivors. She later specialized in working with low-income clients, incest and sexual assault survivors, combat veterans, and cancer patients and their families. In 1983, she helped to develop and implement a program to treat and prevent
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
on campus at the
University of California at San Diego.
During the 1980s, she conducted research that compared the effects of lesbian and heterosexual mother's parenting of now adult-aged daughters to examine the commonly held judicial position that children of lesbian mothers should be removed from them for their own well-being. Prior to this study, no adults raised by lesbian mothers had been scientifically studied. No significant differences were found in
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
,
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
, or social adjustment between daughters either raised by lesbian or heterosexual mothers. As a result of this research, she has served as an
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
in lesbian mothers' court custody disputes, and her practice includes seeing women and men of any sexual orientations.
In 1996, Julie Schwartz Gottman co-founded
The Gottman Institute in Seattle with John Gottman. She served as the Clinical Director from 1996 to 2001 and CEO from 1999 to 2001. She currently serves as President of the organization.
She helped design and direct the "Couples Together Against Violence" research study to develop an evidence-based group therapy method for treating domestic violence. She also created and served as the Clinical Director of "
Loving Couples Loving Children," a national program for treating couples in poverty that was tested with over 3,000 couples.
She has offered scores of talks and workshops over the years for Evolution of Psychotherapy Conferences, Psychotherapy Networker Symposiums,
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(APA) annual conferences, and
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) is a professional association in the field of marriage and family therapy representing more than 50,000 marriage and family therapists throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. ...
(AAMFT) annual conferences. She has also taught in countries worldwide, including Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Israel, Austria, and New Zealand.
Together with John Gottman, she has presented The Art and Science of Love weekend workshop to thousands of couples in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington and has trained more than 100,000 clinicians worldwide in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, a science-based approach that aims to increase respect, affection, and closeness, manage conflict, generate greater understanding, and create shared meaning in relationships.
She is the author or co-author of ''Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage'' (Three Rivers Press, 2006), ''And Baby Makes Three'' (Three Rivers Press, 2007), ''10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy'' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2015), ''The Man's Guide to Women'' (Rodale, 2016), ''The Marriage Clinic Casebook'' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2004), and ''The Science of Couples and Family Therapy'' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018). Her articles have appeared in many peer-reviewed journals and national media publications.
In December 2015, she appeared on Talks at Google on Modern Romance moderated by Logan Ury to discuss common misconceptions about relationships.
Gottman maintains a private practice on
Orcas Island
Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington.
History and naming of the island
The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' fro ...
, where she specializes in working with distressed couples, abuse and trauma survivors, those with
substance abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
problems and their partners, and cancer patients and their families. She also offers Marathon Therapy and Private Couples Retreats.
She is a member of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
, the
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
, and the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
.
Honors and awards
In 2002, the Washington State Psychological Association (WSPA) honored Julie Schwartz Gottman with ''The Distinguished Psychologist of the Year Award.'' She also received the 2005
Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Army. Drs. John and Julie Gottman were named the "renowned experts on marital stability" by
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
.
Works
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz (1989). Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents, Marriage & Family Review, Vol. 14, No. 3-4, p. 172.
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz (2004). ''The Marriage Clinic Casebook''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. .
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz; Gottman, John; Joan DeClaire (2006). ''Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage: America's Love Lab Experts Share Their Strategies for Strengthening Your Relationship.'' New York: Three Rivers Press.
* Anne Gartlan; Julie Schwartz Gottman; Joan Declaire (2006). ''Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage: America's Love Lab Experts Share Their Strategies for Strengthening Your Relationship''. Random House Audio. .
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz; Gottman, John (2007). ''And Baby Makes Three: The Six-Step Plan for Preserving Marital Intimacy and Rekindling Romance After Baby Arrives''. New York: Three Rivers Press. .
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz; Gottman, John (2015). ''10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz; Gottman, John; Abrams, Douglas; Abrams, Rachel Carlton (2016). ''The Man's Guide to Women''. New York: Rodale. .
* Gottman, Julie Schwartz; Gottman, John (2018). ''The Science of Couples and Family Therapy: Behind the Scenes at the "Love Lab" 1st Edition.'' New York: W.W. Norton & Company. .
References
External links
Julie Schwartz Gottman biographyon
The Gottman Institute website
Julie Schwartz Gottmanon the Gottman Referral Network
The Gottman Institute blogJulie Schwartz Gottmanprivate retreats and marathon couples therapy
Julie Schwartz Gottmanat
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
Julie Schwartz Gottmanat Omega
Recorded talks
“What Are They Really Saying?”– Level 2 Clinical Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, February 2011
“How to Complain Without Hurting Your Partner”– The Art and Science of Love, March 2011
“The Art of Emotion Coaching”– Global HR Forum, Seoul, South Korea, 2014
“When Partners Get Flooded”– The Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, March 2015
TEDxVenice Beach 2017– "World Peace Starts at Home", October 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottman, Julie Schwartz
Relationship counseling
1951 births
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Colorado College alumni
Northeastern University alumni
California School of Professional Psychology alumni
American women psychologists
21st-century American psychologists
Jewish American writers
Living people
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women
20th-century American psychologists