Love Me, Don't Leave Me: Overcoming Fear of Abandonment and Building Lasting, Loving Relationships

Michelle Skeen, PsyD

Feb 2016 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Karyn O'Bryant

About this audiobook

Everyone thrives on love, comfort, and the safety of family, friends, and community. But if you are denied these basic comforts early in life, whether through a lack of physical affection or emotional bonding, you may develop intense fears of abandonment that can last well into adulthood-fears so powerful that they can actually cause you to push people away. If you suffer from fears of abandonment, you may have underlying feelings of anger, shame, fear, anxiety, depression, and grief. These emotions are intense and painful, and when they surface they can lead to a number of negative behaviors, such as jealousy, clinging, and emotional blackmail. In Love Me, Don't Leave Me, therapist Michelle Skeen combines acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), schema therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to help you identify the root of your fears. In this book you'll learn how schema coping behaviors-deeply entrenched and automatic behaviors rooted in childhood experiences and fears-can take over and cause you to inadvertently sabotage your relationships. By recognizing these coping behaviors and understanding their cause, you will not only gain powerful insights into your own mind, but also into the minds of those around you.

Ratings and reviews

Such bad advice given.She explains that the negative core belief of abandonment will never go away and you have to accept that the intense pain will always be there. I disagree, with enough therapy and help, you can do the work to lessen the intensity of the pain when triggered. I've moved from anxious to secure attachment style through doing the work. So there is hope. this book makes it sound as if there is none.

A highly recommendable self-help book on fear of abandonment. It has enriched me with healthy and effective insights on my relationship with fear and how to affect the outcomes of it.

Describe your role and the roles of other members of the family

About the author

Michelle Skeen, PsyD, is a therapist who lives and works in San Francisco, California. She has provided brief and long-term therapy for individuals and couples utilizing schema, cognitive, and behavioral therapies to address interpersonal issues, weight management, anger, depression, anxiety, disabilities, and trauma.

A native New Englander, Karyn O'Bryant is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has several television appearances to her credit, as well as over twenty-five years of experience in stage productions.