Harville Hendrix

Harville Hendrix (born 1935) is an American writer.

Hendrix is best known for the book Getting the Love You Want, which gained popularity during Hendrix's 17 appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

He is a member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors as well as a clinical member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association and the International Transactional Analysis Association, and has produced 10 written works in partnership with his wife Helen LaKelly Hunt.

Career Hendrix was born in 1935 in Statesboro, Georgia. At the age of 17 he became an ordained Baptist minister, after which he continued on to receive his B.A. at Mercer University in Georgia, in 1957, and his B.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1961. Following this, Hendrix then went on to receive both an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology and religion from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

Hendrix, along with his wife Helen LaKelly Hunt, developed Imago Relationship Therapy, a form of relationship and couples therapy.

Getting the Love You Want Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples is a relationship self-help book by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt, first published in 1988 by Henry Holt.

The book is linked with the Getting the Love You Want weekend workshop, first offered by Hendrix in 1979 as an experimental retreat for couples. Early workshops emphasized expressive group work influenced by Transactional Analysis and Gestalt therapy, but over time shifted toward structured dialogue and relational safety. By the late 1980s, the central technique of Imago Dialogue (mirroring, validation, empathy) had become core to both the workshops and the book.

Later adaptations consolidated the workshop around four practices of "relational competency": Dialogue, Zero Negativity, Empathy, and Affirmation. Public visibility of both the book and the workshops increased following Hendrix’s appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show.