This title is due to be published on the 18th June 2024. You can if you wish, order it now at our special pre-publication price and we will deliver it to you as soon as it becomes available.

What is compersion? Is it the “opposite” of jealousy, as it is usually believed? Is it an emotion or a behavior? What causes it to arise and bloom? Can we “learn” compersion or at least invite more of it into our lives?

Based on her seminal research with consensually non-monogamous (CNM) individuals, Dr. Marie Thouin unravels these questions and more in the first ever book to offer a comprehensive model of compersion and a practical road map to cultivating it. Indispensable for CNM individuals, therapists, counselors, and scholars, each chapter features compelling stories from real CNM people, making this scholarly book a captivating, relatable, and highly applicable read.

In addition, Thouin addresses the broader social context, explaining how understanding compersion is a groundbreaking step toward a world that supports relational diversity and freedom. By disrupting the idea that jealousy is the only valid response to intimacy beyond monogamy, the existence and practice of compersion builds the foundation for a completely new paradigm of loving relationships. This book and its conclusions have profound implications for many fields of study and practice including psychology, sexuality studies, philosophy and ethics, and the law.

While the content of this book is mostly geared toward readers interested in CNM and polyamory, it is also invaluable for monogamous people and anyone curious to learn about positive empathy, intentional relationships, and radical love.