Description:

As with any approach, couple therapy must have a clear vision toward which the couple can navigate. We may call this the therapeutic goal or therapeutic narrative. The clarity by which the therapist holds this vision and expects the couple to meet this goal largely determines therapeutic success. One such goal is the partner co-creation of a relationship ethos or ethical system based on shared purpose, shared vision, and shared principles of governance. A principle-based relationship, while not based on feelings, may prove vital to the prevention of common relational threat while essential to the fostering of mutually earned love, respect, and admiration. This keynote focuses on what predicts long term success in adult romantic relationships. We will discuss how purpose and shared vision sets the stage for meaningful, long lasting relationships, and how a lack of purpose, shared meaning, and shared principles of governance (guardrails that protect partners from each other) is a predictor of accumulated, psychobiological threat and eventual dissolution. Love is not enough to ensure relationship endurance given the ever-present, survival-based nature of the human primate.

Educational Objectives:

1. To be able to list at least five characteristics of a secure-functioning relationship.
2. To be able to describe at least three brain error potentials.
3. To be able to list at least five examples of shared principles of governance.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*