Barbara Kivowitz

Barbara is a psychotherapist and a healthcare consultant. She works with health care organizations nationally to help them move to more relationship-based models of care.

Her book, Love in the Time of Chronic Illness, is a wise and practical guide that helps couples understand the impact of illness or trauma on their relationship and learn approaches for building the relationship resilience they need to carry the heavy load of illness.

The concept for her book came from her own experience of living with a chronic pain condition. Her condition soon became the third, unwanted partner in her relationship with her husband. Their world, with its comfortable patterns and familiar routines, fell off its axis as they struggled to stay connected and cope with the demands of illness.

There aren't many resources to help couples in this situation so Barbara (and her co-author Roanne Weisman) wrote the book they wished they'd had as they went through their own illness experiences with their partners.

Through touching and inspiring stories about real couples, along with profound and practical expert insight and commentary, Love in the Time of Chronic Illness is an invaluable companion for couples whose lives have been upended by illness and for the circles of family, friends, and professionals who care about them.

As one reader wrote: "Good stories, sound advice, pure wisdom are all rolled into one book, and it's actually fun to read!"