CC11 Topical Panel 01 - Infidelity: What is the Essence of the Crisis and How Do Couples Move Forward? - Ellyn Bader, PhD, Marty Klein, PhD, Esther Perel, MA, LMFT, Jette Simon
Like walking a tightrope, working with couples in trouble requires focus and balance. Both partners want you to take their side, and, at times, it’s easy to get swallowed up by the intense emotionality of the sessions. So, how can you maintain a sense of balance and create an atmosphere in which healing can take place? In this workshop, you’ll learn how to use the principles of Imago Relationship Therapy to connect with the issues the couple brings to you and transform the emotional temperature of the session.
Knowing how to elicit positive emotion even in couples steeped in intensely negative interactions is the key to providing the motivation for change. In this workshop, we’ll explore a variety of ways for creating “magical moments” in the therapy hour that offer a new template for couples, otherwise trapped in dysfunction, to allay repetitive cycles. You’ll learn how to use tools like focusing, sentence stems, doubling and directives to invite couples into new kinds of experience of connection. We’ll also examine the neurobiological principles that enable partners to expect and attract more positive experiences from each other.