Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a model of therapy that views the mind as a system of sub-personalities or parts that hold different beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. IFS also believes that each person has a “Self” that has inherent wisdom or healing capacity.
When we apply IFS to couples, we help each partner become aware of their own parts and how they interact with their partners parts. This helps couples resolve conflicts that arise when their parts are in opposition to each other. IFS also helps each member of the couple identify and heal the wounds within them that can get in the way of intimacy in the relationship.
The overall goal of IFS in couples is to help individuals become more aware of their own parts, to access empathy for their partner’s parts, and release the blocks that cause conflicts to develop a more compassionate relationship within themselves and their relationship.
What do consent, great sex, strong agreements, and well-functioning polyamory have in common? The Developmental Model of Couple’s Therapy holds important keys to creating all of them. In this keynote, sex therapist Martha Kauppi will discuss why she finds the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy to be an ideal fit for her relational sex therapy practice. Learn how weaving together concepts of attachment, differentiation, and neuroscience empowers clients to create strong, healthy intimate and sexual relationships.
When information and advice fail to promote change, an experiential approach can foster adaptive realizations. Learn nonverbal and metaphoric methods to enliven your approach.
Of all the challenges to the couple therapist the most common is the matter of the affairs, addictions, and deception. In this one-hour presentation, attendees will learn various methods of detecting cheating, lying, and substance and non-substance abuse very early in the process of couple therapy. We will be looking at these behaviors from both psychobiological and neurobiological perspectives. However, detection is but one hurdle for the couple therapist. The other is intervention. PACT has a specific orientation for dealing with affairs, addictions, and deception. Attendees will get a thorough introduction to these methods as well as takeaways that can be utilized immediately in their own practice.
Based on Perel’s 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.
CC12 Topical Panel 01 - Infidelity: What is the Essence of the Crisis for the Couple? What are the Challenges for the Therapist? - Ellyn Bader, PhD, Helen Fisher, PhD, John Gottman, PhD, and Esther Perel, MA, LMFT
EP09 Dialogue 16 – Humor in Therapy – Cloe Madanes, Lic. Psic and Jeffrey Zeig, PhD
Educational Objective: Given a topic, to describe the differing approaches to psychotherapy, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
EP09 Topical Panel 08 – Mindfulness, Trauma, Healing and the Spirit – Bessel van der Kolk, Jack Kornfield, Daniel Siegel, and Francine Shapiro
Educational Objective: To compare and contrast clinical and philosophical perspectives of experts.
EP09 Topical Panel 10 – Depression – Judith Beck, Francine Shapiro, and Michael Yapko
Educational Objective: To compare and contrast clinical and philosophical perspectives of experts.