cover image What to Do

What to Do

Dan Kiley. Putnam Publishing Group, $16.95 (218pp) ISBN 978-0-399-13324-4

Familiar to radio and TV audiences as ""Dr. Dan,'' the author of The Peter Pan Syndrome here addresses women with unsatisfactory mates. Understanding oneself, the psychologist-author counsels, is the first step to getting what you need from the man you love. Questionnaires included in the text are meant to establish this groundwork, then the reader moves on to Kiley's program for improving relationships. Case histories dramatize difficulties caused by males who forget birthdays and anniversaries, don't share housework, make love indifferently, etc. Worse threats to domestic tranquility are also cited, problems arising out of interfering in-laws, alcoholic or drug-addicted husbands. Kiley offers suggestions for controlling bitterness and accepting a mate's minor flaws by dwelling on his virtues. Women in demonstrably hopeless situations are advised to sever the relationship even though they are sexually in thrall to their partners. To cool unwanted passions, Kiley recommends ``aversion imagery''viewing the man as physically disgusting. (September)