Editing Warren Farrell (section)

=== ''Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say'' and ''Father and Child Reunion'' ===
The increase in divorces in the 1980s and 1990s turned Farrell's writing toward two issues: the poverty of couples' communication<ref name="Hear_9781876451318" /> and children's loss of their father in [[child custody]] cases.<ref name="Father_9781876451325" />

In ''Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say'',<ref name="Hear_9781876451318" /> Farrell asserts that couples often fail to use couples' communication outside of counseling if the person receiving criticism does not know how to make her or himself feel safe. Farrell develops a method called "Cinematic Immersion" to create that safety and overcome what he posits is humans' biological propensity to respond defensively to personal criticism.<ref name="Hear_9781876451318" /><ref>{{cite book | title = Workshop Title: Couples' Communication Retreat | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171114112429/https://www.esalen.org/sites/default/files/resource_attachments/Course_Information-Warren_Farrell-Couples_Communication_Retreat-Update_2017_0.pdf | archive-date = November 14, 2017 | url = https://www.esalen.org/sites/default/files/resource_attachments/Course_Information-Warren_Farrell-Couples_Communication_Retreat-Update_2017_0.pdf | publisher = [[Esalen Institute]] }}</ref>

To address children's loss of their father in child custody cases, Farrell wrote ''Father and Child Reunion'',<ref name="Father_9781876451325" /> a [[meta-analysis]] of research about what is the optimal family arrangement for children of divorce. ''Father and Child Reunion's'' findings include some 26 ways in which children of divorce do better when three conditions prevail: [[shared parenting|equally-shared parenting]] (or joint custody); close parental proximity; and no bad-mouthing.<ref name="Father_9781876451325" /> His research for ''Father and Child Reunion'' provided the basis for his frequently appearing in the first decade of the 21st Century as an expert witness in child custody cases on the balance between mothers' and fathers' rights needed to create the optimal family arrangement for children of divorce.{{cn|date=February 2025}}