The Many Faces of Polyamory

Dr. Magdalena J. Fosse is a licensed clinical psychologist and AASECT certified sex therapist in private practice in Cambridge, MA. She works extensively with individuals and couples who identify as polyamorous or consensually nonmonogamous. Dr. Fosse is on the faculty of Psychodynamic Couples and Families Institute of New England (PCFINE), which provides advanced training in couples’ therapy to licensed clinicians.

Introduction- In the Beginning there was Chaos Part I: Charting the Map of Polyamory 1. Polyamory: Bewildering and Evolving 2.Paving the Road to Polyamory: From Free Love to Multiple Loves 3.Relational Dreams and Fantasy Bonds: Commitment, Belonging, and Fitting In in Poly Relationships Part II: Poly Dynamics of Love 4.In Love Versus in Life: Has Marriage for Love Failed? 5.Maps of the Heart: Capacity for Love 6.From Passion to Compassion: Different Shades of Love 7.Falling in Love in Polyamory: New Relationship Energy 8.Polyromanticism: Polyamory’s Love with Itself Part III: Sexuality in Polyamory 9.Love and Sex: Separate and Intertwined 10.Sexual Scripts: Who, What, Where, and How 11.The New Place of Belonging: Polyamory and Bisexuality Part IV: Jealousy in Transparent Love 12.No Size Fits All: Jealousy Is a Complex Relational Experience 13.Jealousy: Learned Pathology or Universal Affliction? 14.Attempts to Sublimate: Compersion Part V: Relational Psychodynamics and Attachment Perspectives 15.Tantalizing Objects and Identity Formation: Conscious Choices and Unconscious Motivations 16.Through a Glass Darkly: Polyamory Through the Lens of Defensive Processes 17.The Ways We Love: Attachment-Based Perspectives 18.Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Neuropsychology of Attachment Psychodynamics 19.Self-Expansion Model: Is Polyamory Expanding the Potential? 20.Relationship Escalator Versus Stages of Couple Development 21.Examining Countertransference: Polyamory in the Heteronormative and Mononormative World 22.Clinical Considerations: Ethical Issues and Therapy Tasks Part VI: Love Insists the Loved Loves Back 23.Polycurious: In Search of Greener Grass 24.Frozen Love: Polyamory as a Catalyst 25.Soft Divorce: A Marital Dissolution Through Polyamory 26.Poly Repair: The Marriage Saved by Opening Up 27.Polyfurious: From Dreams to Despair 28.Aspirational Poly: Absence of Jealousy 29.Gender and Sex: Bisexual Feelings in Polyamory 30.The Tale of the Rings: Renewing Monogamy Vows 31.Veteran Poly: Old Pains, New Tribulations 32.Looking for a Family: The Appeal of Multiple Attachments