Four Ways to Click: Rewire Your Brain for Stronger, More Rewarding Relationships

by Amy Banks, M.D.

with Leigh Ann Hirschman

Foreword by Daniel J. Siegel M.D.

Penguin Random House (February 2015)

Research shows that people cannot reach their full potential unless they are in healthy connection with others. Dr. Amy Banks teaches us how to rewire our brains for healthier relationships and happier, more fulfilling lives.

We all experience moments when we feel isolated and alone. A 2006 Purdue University study found that twenty-five percent of Americans cannot name a single person they feel close to. Yet every single one of us is hardwired for close relationships. The key to more satisfying relationships—be it with a significant other, family member, or colleague—is to strengthen the neural pathways in our brains that encourage closeness and connection.

There are four distinct neural pathways that correspond to the four most important ingredients for healthy and satisfying relationships: calmness, acceptance, emotional resonance, and energy. This groundbreaking book gives readers the tools they need to strengthen the parts of their brain that encourage connection and to heal the neural damage that disconnection can cause.

AMY BANKS, M.D. has devoted her career to understanding the neurobiology of relationships. In addition to being the Director of Advanced Training at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at the Wellesley Centers for Women, she was an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is the first person to bring relational-cultural theory together with neuroscience and is the foremost expert in the combined field. She has a private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts, which specializes in relational psychopharmacology and therapy for people who suffer from chronic disconnection.

Leigh Ann Hirschman is a bestselling nonfiction writer who specializes in psychology, parenting, and health.

Read Foreword by Daniel Seigel, M.D.

Learn about an upcoming webinar series focused on Four Ways to Click!

Learn more about the C.A.R.E. program through brief videos and blog articles

Learn more about the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute

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View video below in which Dr. Amy Banks talks about how to form healthy and thriving social connections. ALSO--View a series of short videos focused on the C.A.R.E. program and other suggestions for healthy relationships!

Amy Banks, M.D. discusses the C.A.R.E. program, an innovative approach to help people form healthy, thriving connections—ones that really “click”—by healing some of the neurological damage that results from disconnection and strengthening the four neural pathways that make great relationships possible. Banks, the developer of the C.A.R.E. program and author with Leigh Ann Hirschman of the forthcoming book, Four Ways to Click: Brain Science and the Strong Relationship, shares background and discusses how the neural pathways—for Calmness, Acceptedness, emotional Resonance, and Energy—along with Relational Cultural Theory, and neuroplasticity (brain change), can help individuals assess their relationships, measure their C.A.R.E. scores, and work toward healthier, happier relationships.