Publisher Description
In Dr. Ruth’s final book, the iconic therapist offers an urgent guide to combating loneliness with 100 ways to increase connectivity right now, based on insights from her life story and her unparalleled career.
“Dr. Ruth’s strategies are essential for building the kinds of bonds that will reduce loneliness and transform lives.”—Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
When Surgeon General Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that loneliness “represents an urgent public health concern”—exacerbated by social media overuse, the residual effects of the pandemic, and the lack of meaningful relationships—trusted therapist Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer knew that her unique perspective and expertise could help. Long beloved for breaking stigmas around sexual problems, Dr. Ruth made it her mission to help individuals break free from the bonds of hopelessness and isolation.
We are social animals. We have a shared desire to connect and create lasting relationships with the people around us. But the heaviness of loneliness can make this feel impossible. Dr. Ruth, with Emmy Award–winning journalist Allison Gilbert and longtime collaborator Pierre Lehu, tackles the subject with compassion and her trademark no-nonsense approach. She provides practical and creative strategies for finding friends, community, and intimacy. And it’s anchored by Dr. Ruth’s own story, from the horrific loneliness of losing her family in the Holocaust to living in an orphanage to rebuilding her life in America and eventually becoming a world-renowned sex therapist.
With 100 concrete and innovative opportunities that can be put to use immediately, The Joy of Connections isn’t only an action-oriented guidebook on overcoming loneliness from one of the most well-respected therapists of our time; it’s also the vital kick in the pants we all need in order to start seeking—and finding—deep and lasting human connections.
* This audiobook edition includes a downlaodable PDF including the Further Resources section from the book.
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The more I study happiness, the more I understand that strong relationships are key—perhaps the key—to living a happy life. To be happy, we need to feel like we belong, that we’re connected to others. This is exactly why we need Dr. Ruth’s new book. Her strategies are essential for building the kinds of bonds that will reduce loneliness and transform lives.
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Gretchen Rubin
About Ruth K. Westheimer
Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer (1928–2024) was a beloved and trusted therapist who revolutionized the national dialogue on sex, sexuality, and relationships with her live, syndicated radio program, Sexually Speaking. She went on to host numerous television shows, author nearly forty books, and tour in her one-woman show about her life, Dr. Ruth, All the Way. She taught for six years at Yale and Princeton.
About the Narrators
Tovah Feldshuh is an icon known for her starring roles as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in Golda’s Balcony, the longest-running one-person show in Broadway history; Irena Gut in Irena’s Vow; the title role in Yentl; her performances in Broadway productions like Cyrano, Lend Me a Tenor, Pippin, and many others; and her television roles as Helena Slomova in the internationally acclaimed miniseries, Holocaust; as hypercritical mom Naomi in Rachel Bloom’s smash hit Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; and tough-as-nails head of Alexandria, Deanna Monroe on AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Allison Gilbert is the founder of Parentless Parents, a new and growing nationwide network of parents who have experienced the loss of their own mothers and fathers. Gilbert is also the author of Always Too Soon and co-editor of Covering Catastrophe. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Early Show, Extra!, and on CNN and ABC News. Gilbert lectures regularly on parenting and loss.