BT12 Conversation Hour 10 – Rethinking Couples Therapy: A Radical Approach to Love, Sex, and Infidelity – Esther Perel, MA, LMFT
Educational Objectives:
Learn the philosophies of various practitioners and theorists.
BT12 Dialogue 12 - Infidelity - Ellyn Bader, PhD, Esther Perel, MA, LMFT, Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD
Educational Objectives:
Given a topic, describe the differing approaches to psychotherapy, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
BT12 Workshop 32 – Rethinking Couples Therapy: A Radical Approach to Love, Sex and Infidelity – Esther Perel, MA, LMFT
Couples therapists are typically discouraged from seeing partners separately lest power imbalances, allegiances, or secrets further divide the couple. What’s lost in this approach? Through case examples, Esther Perel will show how to effectively engage such issues as intimacy, sexuality and infidelity by creating separate spaces where each partner can explore his/her feelings and experiences along with larger relationship dynamics. We will show how to navigate privacy and secrecy, honesty and transparency, stage interventions around sexual impasses, and structure a safe and flexible environment to work creatively with infidelity.
BT12 Workshop 41 – Mating in Captivity: Reconciling Attachment, Security and Erotic Desire in Couples – Esther Perel, MA, LMFT
Based on Perel’s bestseller, Mating in Captivity, this bold take on intimacy and sex grapples with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. We will tackle eroticism as a quality of aliveness and vitality in relationships extending far beyond mere sexuality, and consider how the need for secure attachment and closeness can co-exist with the quest for individuality and freedom.