Is our brain built for love or war, connection or self-preservation? The attachment drive for a secure base involves neurological and neuro-endocrine systems and subsystems that determine such things as proximity seeking and contact maintenance. Couples most commonly enter therapy due to repeated, anticipated, and intense periods of mutual dysregulation whereby attachment injuries and adaptations become reanimated. In order to make the most of attachment theory, the psychotherapist must incorporate a working knowledge of the neurobiological processes that underlie all primary attachment relationships.
Couples’ expectations about the role of sexuality in intimate relationships have changed dramatically over the past 40 years. We will explore the main ideas of the romantic ideal: how we want our partner to fulfill our needs for connection, belonging and continuity, as well as give the sense of transcendence, mystery and passion. Examining the cultural values of love and respect, freedom and responsibility, and interdependence vs. autonomy, we will map a culturally relevant approach to work with the dilemmas of desire in couples. We also will probe the difference between clearly assigned gender role repartition and the post-feminist egalitarian model.
Comparisons have been made between severe avoidant attachment and disorders of the self such as antisocial personality, schizoid personality, and narcissistic personality. Each of these disorders, including avoidant attachment, can be grouped together as one-person psychological organizations in that they operate outside of a truly interactive dyadic system, and primarily rely upon themselves for stimulation and calming via auto-regulation. The chronic need for “alone time” can take many surprising forms throughout the lifespan, directly impacting romantic relationships.
In the course of human evolution, our brains have been shaped by countless adaptational challenges resulting in an organ functioning simultaneously in the conscious present and our primitive and hidden past. This presentation will explore aspects of the human brain which make sustained intimate relationships both possible and problematic.
The Law and Ethics Workshop covers emerging legal and ethical issues for mental health practitioners of all disciplines. The four-hour program addresses issues including confidentiali- ty and privilege, note-taking, record-keeping, coping with subpoenas, the impact of professional society ethical codes on regulation of mental health practice, liability exposure with suicidal patients, and recent developments in “Tarasoff situations.”
This program focuses more closely on the needs of clinicians who fall into particularly high risk groups. Topics include confidentiality and privilege for children, coping with high-conflict divorce/custody families, the regressive impact of the regulatory environment on family therapy in particular, supervision/ consultation issues that arise for professionals whose agency positions may include functions that conflict with ethical codes.
How do we forgive a partner who cheats, drinks, insults, abandons - and doesn't show a shred of remorse? This keynote will challenge common assumptions about what it means to forgive and will present a radical model that gives hurt parties the courage to forgive - and the freedom not to.