D is a licensed psychologist, a certified addiction specialist, and an experienced psychotherapist, trainer and communications consultant. In addition, she is a national and international lecturer and workshop presenter. She has brought together a wide collection of presentations, and brings Western psychology and different world philosophies into her work. She believes that painful life events are wake-up calls and that therapy should be movement forward on a soul's journey. Brenda has served on the board of directors of the National Council of Sexual Addictions and Compulsivity. She is a member of the International Transactional Analysis Association and the International Association of Enneagram Teachers and is clinical director of Healthy Relationships, Inc.
The reason this book is written is because it involves an emotion that pretty much everybody has felt at least in one point of their life. "Love is simply a fact of life," says Dr. Schaeffer. It seems that no one can escape its effects but the reasons that the feelings may be good or bad are anything but simple. Another thing that everyone seems to have is addictive tendencies. This list can include food, exercise, spending money, religious cults, nicotine, psychotherapy, sugar, caffeine, sex, gambling, work, television, pain, parenting, and love objects (Schaeffer 1987). The focus of this book is to understand love addiction - how and why we fall into love, how to identify love, and maybe even more importantly, how to get out of it (Schaeffer 1987). This book was not meant to cure any certain problems but to increase awareness of a problem that might exist, then, in turn, one may find it easier to solve the problem. .
The power of love is one not to be underestimated. Love can change a person's life dramatically by dictating where one chooses to go to college, where one will work, what one will do for a living, and where one will live.