The Press Room

Interviews and Visual Resources

As part of the Gottman Institute's mission to help couples and families, we are eager to work with the media to reach out to general audiences. In particular, we are concerned with providing accurate and informed resource material to journalists who are covering issues that pertain to couples, families and parenting. You can link to our media kit , press releases, and read below how to seek an interview, visual materials, or access to the Family Research Lab.

Interview and visual materials. If you seek an interview with John Gottman, Julie Schwartz Gottman, or a Certified Gottman Therapist™ at the Gottman Institute, please email Becky Thatcher at beckyt@gottmanresearch.com.  Becky is our public information representative.

*Certified Gottman Therapists are all licensed or certified therapists who practice independently in their state, province, or country. Each has been specifically trained by Drs. John and Julie Gottman to provide Gottman Method Couples Therapy.

Information to include in your query. Your email should include your media outlet, topic, deadline, and your phone numbers and mailing address. We will do everything in our power to arrange an interview or to facilitate your obtaining the information necessary for your project.

When you use source material from the Gottman Institute™ or quotations from Drs. John or Julie Schwartz Gottman, we would appreciate very much if you cite the Gottman Institute™ as the source, and also include contact information, such our web address, www.gottman.com, or our toll-free number, 888-523-9042. We think that members of the general public benefit from well-informed articles on marriage, couples, and family, and we also think that the public will find it useful and interesting to learn about the various kinds of information, education, and therapy that we provide directly to the public.

Existing B-roll, filming at the Family Research Laboratory, photography

What video we have. We currently have on vhs a 5-6 minute example of a couple going through an assessment process in the Love Lab (Family Research Lab).  In addition, we have short examples of partners in the "apartment laboratory" that illustrate how couples interact in informal situations (engaging in bids and turning, as described in The Relationship Cure).

What video we don't have. We are not able to provide additional videotapes from the research laboratory, from workshops, or from therapy sessions, as this would violate research and confidentiality protocols.

What we can do (sometimes!) to provide video. Sometimes media outlets seek to videotape a couple going through the Relationship Research Laboratory assessment with Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman. To pursue this possibility, please understand several things.

• First, it takes at least six weeks of advance planning to schedule an event in our laboratory.
• There are an extremely limited number of days per year when videotaping a day in the laboratory is possible, even with advanced notice, because of the research schedule.
• If we are able to schedule you, it is up to the media outlet to locate a couple who is appropriate and willing to participate in such a project (we can't provide research or workshop couples, as mentioned above).
• To use the Relationship Research Laboratory in this way, it is necessary for media outlets to pay a fee. The fee is required and paid, as a donation, to the Gottman Research Fund. We are not able to operate laboratory sessions without charging a fee.
• A typical media day in the laboratory lasts from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. It involves a couple's completing paperwork, participating in an Oral History Interview about the beginning of their relationship, engaging in conflict and problem-solving interactions, during which videotaped facial affect coding and various physiological measures are taken and used to create a profile of the couple. Following the generation of a profile, a couple engages in a second structured exercise and intervention, with similar measures being taken and summarized. Finally, there is a feedback session with Dr. Gottman.

Still photography. Currently, we have still photographs of Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman. They are available in .jpg format for electronic transmission.

Thanks for your interest in the Gottman Institute™. If you would like to obtain an online media kit, click here.