ACADEMIA

Esther Perel

Psychotherapist

A noted psychotherapist and relationship guru who hails from a Polish-Jewish family, Esther Perel has pioneered the study of how wider changes in social norms impact personal relationships. “Never before have our expectations of marriage taken on such epic proportions,” she has written. “We still want everything the traditional family was meant to provide—security, children, property, and respectability—but now we also want our partner to love us, to desire us, to be interested in us. We should be best friends, trusted confidants, and passionate lovers to boot.” The host of two podcasts – “Where Should We Begin?” and “How’s Work?” – Perel’s academic training includes a BA in educational psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (Photo: EstherPerel.com )