Is technology changing love? Why do you fall in love with one person rather than another? Why is the rejected brain primed for psychotherapy? How can you use neuroscience to keep love alive? And where are we headed in our digital age? Anthropologist and neuroscientist Dr. Helen Fisher uses her brain scanning work (fMRI) to discuss three basic brain systems that evolved for mating and reproduction--the sex drive, romantic love, and attachment; each plays a pivotal role in human health and happiness. And she uses her data on 50,000 single Americans to explain a new (and positive) trend in courtship, what she calls “slow love.” She then discusses her data on the biological foundations of human personality—specifically four basic styles of thinking and behaving that impact love relationships and all other social interactions.
Couples say they want better communication often without having the developmental capacities to bring about what they so desperately desire. The Initiator-Inquirer Process can be used to increase clients' capacity for empathy, self-definition and giving when it is not convenient.
Desire resides at the intersection of multiple systems, encompassing purely sexual aspects, numerous physiologic components, and a vast web of emotional, spiritual, and relational issues. In this skills-based presentation, Martha shares her approach to understanding complicated interconnected presenting symptoms, relational dynamics, and conceptualizing and treating issues related to desire.
This keynote will highlight core themes that are imperative for therapists to consider before working with relational systems that exist beyond the purview of heteronormativity. Specific topics will include becoming aware of ones sexological world views, understanding and working with sexual and relational health, and exploring what variant sexual, erotic and relational systems may offer heteronormative and monogamous couples in terms of increasing vulnerability, differentiation, and deepening relational attunement.
Since life is lived in the Space-Between and remembered in the Space-Within, the quality of “interaction” between intimate partners determines the content of subjective life. Using the power of Imago Dialogue facilitated by the therapist, couples are empowered to achieve their own transformation. Participants at this presentation will hear and see a demonstration of the essences of the process.
Dr. Giammattei will present the underlying framework that therapists who work with transgender or gender expansive (TGE) couples need to understand in order to provide gender affirming treatment. He will share ways to explore your own hetero/cis-normative beliefs around coupling and how these influence the models you choose, the questions you ask, and the interventions you use. While TGE couples experience many of the same issues as other couples, we will explore the minority stress and unique stressors that impact these issues in profound ways.
Increasingly more and more couples are working together or working virtually in the same space. It is estimated that in the United States 43% of small businesses are family-run and 53% of managers share day-to-day management with a spouse. Working together tends to eclipse romance and dominate a couples life. As therapists, we tend to look at our couples/clients mainly through the lens of our favorite therapy model. However, couples who work together face unique challenges that are not rooted in attachment styles or family of origin conflicts.