Bailing Out: The Healthy Way to Get Out of a Bad Relationship and Survive

Cognitive therapist Lubetkin, clinical director of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City, and Oumano, who teaches communications at City University of New York, offer concrete suggestions and exercises in this guide for those about to end intimate relationships. Using the principles of cognitive behavior and social learning theories, the authors break down the often apparently overwhelming task of evaluating clearly an existing relationship; with a nod to salvaging the redeemable partnership, they then parcel out the process of ``bailing out'' into discrete, manageable steps. Addressed to dissatisfied spouses as well as partners in less formal arrangements--who, in the authors' view, have probably added to their suffering by having put off their decision-making for too long--this direct, comprehensive, emphatically unsentimental approach for navigating the difficulties in breaking up delivers a positive program likely to help many. First serial to Cosmopolitan; author tour. (Feb.)