Harville Hendrix


Harville Hendrix is a New York Times best-selling author, international speaker, clinical trainer and couples therapist.

Biography

Hendrix is best known for the book Getting the Love You Want, which has sold more than 4 million copies and gained in popularity during Hendrix's 17 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He is a diplomat in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors as well as a clinical member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association and the International Transactional Analysis Association, and has produced 10 written works in partnership with his wife and American activist, Helen LaKelly Hunt. In addition to their development of Imago Relationship Therapy, Harville and Helen also serve as Chancellors and Distinguished Professors of Daybreak University.

Early life and education

Harville Hendrix was born in 1935 in Statesboro, Georgia. At the age of 17 he became an ordained Baptist minister, after which he continued on to receive his B.A. at Mercer University in Georgia, in 1957, and his B.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1961. Following this, Hendrix then went on to receive both an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology and religion from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

Work and global mission

Harville Hendrix, along with his wife Helen LaKelly Hunt, developed Imago Relationship Therapy, a form of relationship and couples therapy that focuses on relational counseling to transform any conflict between couples into opportunities for healing and growth.
The Latin word “imago”—meaning “image”—refers to the “unconscious image of familiar love.” What has been found is frequent connection between frustrations in adult relationships and early childhood experiences. As an example, individuals frequently criticized as a child will likely be highly sensitive to their partner’s criticism. Childhood feelings of abandonment, suppression or neglect will often arise in a marriage or committed relationship. When such “core issues” repeatedly come up with a partner, they can overshadow all that is good in a relationship and leave one to wonder whether he or she has chosen the right mate. Through Imago Relationship Therapy, couples can learn to understand each other’s feelings and “childhood wounds” more empathically, allowing them to heal themselves and their relationships so they can move toward a more “Conscious Relationship.
, Hendrix and Hunt's nonprofit organization, has trained over 2,500 therapists and educators in over 50 countries in Imago Therapy.
Harville and Helen co-created Imago Relationship Therapy and to promote the transformation of couples and families by a creating relational culture that support universal equality. Most personal suffering, such as divorce, domestic violence, anxiety, depression, addictions and mental illness, are disorders of unhealthy relationships. Therefore, happiness, success, emotional well-being, and joy are functions of healthy relationships. Harville and Helen envision a world in which the primary value is relationship and universal equality is a reality. Their belief is that all persons are created in relationship, become who they are in relationship, and are wounded by and healed in relationship.

Awards and honors

In addition to holding a Ph.D. in Psychology and Theology from the University of Chicago, Hendrix has received an honorary doctorate and two distinguished service awards. Harville has appeared on many national television shows including sixteen guest appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show. One of his appearances won her an Emmy award for the "most socially redemptive" daytime talk shows and was included by Ms. Winfrey in her top twenty shows.