All couples and couples therapies struggle with issues of mixed loyalties. At any given moment, do I choose my own fulfillment as an individual or do I yield to the needs of the relationship? Is it a zero-sum game in which one partner wins and one loses – and if not, how else can we think about it? This keynote address introduces a model integrating both attachment and differentiation in couples therapy through the idea of enlightened self-interest – taking care of yourself by taking care of the relationship – as well as a model of healthy sacrifice, which is missing in our contemporary, Narcissistic culture.
Too little acknowledgment will lead to alienation of one of both partners in couples therapy, but too much acknowledgment without a compelling invitation to move on from conflict, blame and the past to new possibilities won’t work either. Learn how to maintain that delicate balance and let the couple teach you when to use which method.
One out of every three couples struggles with mismatched sexual desire---a formula for marital disaster. When one spouse is sexually dissatisfied and the other is oblivious, unconcerned, or uncaring, sex isn't the only casualty; a sense of emotional connection can also disappear. Helping couples bridge the desire gap can be challenging when one spouse appears unmotivated or lacks empathy. It can also be challenging when therapists feel uncomfortable discussing sex. This speech presents a collaborative model for partners to work together to turn around the decline in their sex lives and reignite their emotional connection.
All of us are shaped by an essence, the stuff we are made of, the hero within. After drawing up an inventory and statement of the basic heroes that we've integrated and the stories that are the ones of our deep metaphors, we will travel and explore those resources that have contributed to our constructions and our structuration in productive and counterproductive ways. This workshop will offer ways to utilize them in our therapeutic goals for inner change.
IC01 Short Course 17 - The Oral Tradition: An Ericksonian Framework - John Parke, PsyD
This short course will introduce participants to a new framework for Ericksonian therapy drawn
from studies of oral tradition cultures. Members of oral cultures communicate in a style that is
similar to the way Milton H. Erickson performed psychotherapy. This course will introduce
participants to the patterns and habits of oral traditional communication and draw parallels to
Ericksonian work. The workshop includes a storytelling exercise.
Gridlocked perpetual conflicts often destroy relationships. They repeatedly surface, causing partners endless pain, fear, even trauma. Yet every couple faces them. In this address, Dr. Julie Gottman describes a dyadic therapy method that uncloaks the dreams, history and fears beneath partners’ issues while fostering greater compassion and connection in the couple. An edited film will be shown to demonstrate this intervention.
EP09 Dialogue 05 – Spirituality – Jean Houston, PhD and Cloe Madanes, Lic. Psic.
Educational Objective: Given a topic, to describe the differing approaches to psychotherapy, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Educational Objectives:
To describe outcome and followup data regarding psychotherapy that are rapid and durable
To describe a systemic framework that can demystify certain confusing (and confused) issues pertaining to theory and practice
State of the Art Address 01:
In 1978 Laura Huxley founded Children: Our Ultimate Investment, an organization for the nurturing of the possible human. Mrs. Huxley will speak about the foundation's ongoing projects and elucidate the message of the unconceived to the men and women who will be their creators.
Introduced by Bernhard Trenkle, Dipl. Psych.