The Aperture Effect
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Product Details
Publisher: GFB
Release Date: June 24, 2025
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook
ISBN: HC: 978-1-964721-93-4; PB: 978-1-964721-63-7; EB: 978-1-964721-62-0
Trim: 5.5 x 8.5
Page Count: 314
A Radically Simple Approach to Finding Joy and Connection in Your Relationship
Kathryn Ford, MD
Couples often ask, “Can people really change?” A better question is, “How do people change?” In The Aperture Effect, psychiatrist and couples therapist Dr. Kathryn Ford doesn’t just tell you how—she gives you simple tools that will immediately begin to transform your conversations and your relationship. With the radically simple approach of Aperture Awareness, Dr. Ford integrates mindfulness, psychology, and neuroscience to help couples shift their dynamics when in distress, turning their difficulties into lasting connection.
Filled with on-the-ground examples and effective exercises to nurture relationship growth, The Aperture Effect will show you how to:
use small moments to make the changes you want now,
reframe frustrating debates as open dialogues that create connection,
bring out the best in your partner and yourself,
and turn problems into opportunities to learn and love more fully.
Developed over more than two decades, Dr. Ford’s Aperture Awareness approach has helped hundreds of couples reverse the downward spiral of relationship crisis—and prepare for a lifetime of learning and loving together.
About the Author
Kathryn Ford, MD, is a psychiatrist, couples therapist, and author. Her work is a unique integration of mindfulness, psychotherapy, and neuroscience. After receiving her MD from Brown School of Medicine, Dr. Ford completed a residency in psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. She has studied and practiced meditation at centers like Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, which developed her understanding of the power of mindfulness for building deeper, more resilient relationships. Originally from Texas, she raised her family and developed her work in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and her husband, Peter Finkelstein, now spend time in the Bay Area, rural Rhode Island, and Orcas Island, Washington. They have three grown children.
Reviews
“Dr. Ford’s book is a profound contribution to integrating mindfulness into our daily lives. With clarity and insight, she guides us step-by-step in using present moment awareness as a powerful, reliable path to healing and deepening our relationships. Her writing is infused with the wisdom that the challenges we face in our most important connections are opportunities for growth, transformation, and greater love.” —Shauna Shapiro, PhD, professor and author of Good Morning, I Love You
“Dr. Ford takes you on a journey that simplifies the enormous complexity of loving and being loved. She brings hope to every struggling marriage. With wisdom and heart, she guides you to learn together, grow together, and discover the hidden treasures that only the hard work of commitment to love can reveal.” —Ellyn Bader, PhD, cofounder of the Couples Institute and cocreator of the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy
“An aperture—a window or a lens—allows for the passage of light. Dr. Ford applies this metaphor to awareness, openness, and vulnerability in ourselves and others in the service of intimate relationships. Her strategies include mindfulness, patterns of interpersonal dynamics, and self-reflection to bring couples to deeper levels of interpersonal connection. The reader will find her practical and insightful guidance through the challenges of relationships both enlightening and useful. Highly recommended for therapists, couples, and anyone in any kind of relationship.”
—Louis Cozolino, PhD, author of Why Therapy Works
“Balancing neurological research with emotional potential, The Aperture Effect is an immersive and accessible relationship guide.”—Foreword Clarion Reviews
“At first glance, The Aperture Effect appears to be a book about couples—but it’s really a book about relational intelligence. Kathryn Ford introduces ‘aperture awareness’ as a powerful way of attuning to openness between people—an attunement that shapes how we connect, learn, and adapt together. Learning here is not abstract; it’s embodied—in the rhythm of breath, in the pauses between words, in the decision to stay present when it would be easier to turn away. As someone who has spent a lifetime exploring how we learn and innovate, I’m struck by the humility and clarity of this work. The Aperture Effect doesn’t simplify complexity—it gives us tools to move within it. In a time of fragmentation and distraction, this book invites us back to the relational field, where change—personal and shared—actually begins. It offers no quick fixes but something better: a way to pay attention that can change everything.” —John Seely Brown, former chief scientist of Xerox Corporation