PSYCHOLOGY OF ROMANTIC LOVE CD sets

[Jerry Biggers]

For those that may be interested: Audio-Forum is still offering Nathaniel Branden's "original" NBI course (as re-recorded, revised, expanded, and offered on 16 LP albums by Academic Associates in 1970), THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ROMANTIC LOVE, on an 18 CD set (Order Number: S00865D, listed on their invoice as "Romantic Love Sex CD Set," but correctly labeled as "The Psychology of Romantic Love" on each CD in the set).

Based on a live presentation under the auspices of the Institute of Biocentric Psychology, and used as the basis for his later book of the same title, the LP (now CD) set was organized by subjects in an entirely different manner than what was used in the book. Also, the content of the lectures differs in many aspects from what was presented in the book. In my opinion, the audio course is better than the later book.

The 16 two-record LP set had the following titles:

1) The Historical Evolution of Romantic Love,

2) The Nature of Love,

3) Healthy versus Neurotic Love

4) Love and Sex,

5) Misconceptions About Masculinity and Femininity,

6) The Meaning of Masculinity and Femininity,

7) The Challenge of Masculinity and Femininity,

8) Fear of Masculinity and Femininity,

9) The Goals of a Romantic Relationship: The characteristics of a good romantic relationship.

Communicating psychological visibility,

10) The Failure to Project Psychological Visibility: Why romance so often vanishes. The importance of thought and effort to sustain a relationship - The importance of leisure,

11) Emotional Repression,

12) Dealing with Emotional Repression in Marriage,

13) Communicating Dissatisfactions,

14) The Nature of Sexual Interaction,

15) Problems in the Area of Sex,

16) The Concept of Marriage.

The descriptions in the Academic Associates brochure also give subtitles describing details of each lecture (i.e., see 9 and 10 above).

Caveats: While the 18 CD set is in the same order as the 16 LP album set, each CD is numbered without including the title of the lecture printed on the CD. The vinyl album holding the CDs also does not list the content titles as I have shown above, and has no other description of the course. Sound quality is excellant on some CDs, but is un-even on others (Audio-Forum has an exchange/return customer satisfaction policy).For unknown reasons, this complete CD course is not listed in their online or printed catalog. However, when ordering by phone (800-243-1234), the operator had no problem completing the order. List Price is $78.00, but they often have sales - my copy cost only $38.96 (The original A.A. LP set cost $120. in 1970).