Affective Software and the Gottman Institute join forces to usher in new era for healthier relationships

SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Affective Software CEO Rafael Lisitsa announced today the company's acquisition of the Gottman Institute. The two companies will now join and be known as Gottman Inc.

World-renowned psychologists Drs. John and Julie Gottman's groundbreaking work and breakthrough research in the field of couples therapy led them to launch the Gottman Institute 30 years ago.

They will work full-time for Gottman Inc. led by CEO Rafael Lisitsa and the mission will remain the same: to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships by delivering assessment and intervention methods to all who need them.

Dr. Vladimir Brayman is the CTO of Gottman Inc. and Edward Sargent, who served as the CEO of the Gottman Institute, will be the Chief Education Officer of Gottman Inc.

Affective Software under the leadership of Lisitsa and Dr. Brayman took the Gottmans' work best known as the "Love Lab" to the next level of innovation by launching GottmanCONNECT - a digital platform that delivers relationship assessment, recommended interventions and tools to improve relationships to anyone in the world. 

"We've worked very closely with the Gottmans in recent years to provide greater access to couple's therapy," said Lisitsa. "That work now enters a new era where we can apply the Gottman method along with the tools developed by Affective Software and the Gottman Institute to all kinds of relationships from family to friends to co-workers to help millions of people."

To realize the Gottman Inc. mission, it is imperative to leverage technology to make the service accessible to people no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity and drastically decrease the financial barriers for couples and therapists.

"It is time to build on the decades of work at the Gottman Institute to democratize therapy for people to better their relationships in their homes, workplaces and beyond" said Drs. John and Julie Gottman. "Rafael Lisitsa and Dr. Vladimir Brayman are proven leaders to usher in this expansion of our work and research. Together, we will accelerate our efforts to reach more people who need help and tools for more satisfying and healthy relationships."

The Gottman Institute Drs. John and Julie Gottman have revolutionized the study of marriage. For nearly four decades they have conducted research on all facets of relationships. At the Institute, they developed an approach that not only supports and repairs troubled marriages and committed relationships, but strengthens happy ones. The Gottman Institute provides live workshops and take-home training materials for couples. The Institute is committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated.

Affective Software, Inc. is a software company with patented technology founded by Dr. John Gottman, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, Microsoft veteran and technology executive Rafael Lisitsa, CEO, and former Chief Scientist of Webtrends Dr. Vladimir Brayman, CTO. Affective Software combines the Gottmans' science with cutting edge expertise in software, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning to deliver proven relationship couples' assessment methods and intervention exercises оn smartphones, tablets, and computers.

SOURCE The Gottman Institute