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.
Using a developmental lens is a powerful way to lead couples to make sustained change. Learn how developmental principles can help you assess what is wrong and then guide and shape your treatment decisions. Videotapes and clinical case examples will be used throughout the workshop to demonstrate how to challenge symbiosis, facilitate differentiation and build the capacities to sustain intimacy.
This workshop will introduce participants to some of the basics of Relational Life Therapy™, a truth-driven therapeutic approach. Participants will learn how to speak with radical precision and honesty to their clients about what they're doing to de-rail their relationships. You will learn how to "join through the truth" in a way that feels both profoundly respectful and compassionate while, at the same time, pulling no punches. We will look at gathering leverage, separating the person from their behavior, looking at the particular issues of grandiosity, and how to enlist a coalition with the adult part of the client.
The reason why most couples' characteristic fights never get resolved is because in our most heated moments, we stop fighting with each other. Core negative images (CNIs) start fighting and the two real partners get lost. This workshop teaches participants how to help partners identify, make explicit, accept, and ultimately work with one another's core negative images. As partners are taught to utilize each other's CNIs, rather than fight them, all sorts of creative and deliberating possibilities emerge.