It is said that men are afraid of intimacy. Love-avoidant men don't know what intimacy is; what they fear is subjugation - being drained, used, entrapped. These men most often have histories of enmeshment with either one or both parents. That enmeshment can be positive (e.g. the caretaker} or negative (e.g. the scapegoat), but it always leaves the person with both shame and grandiosity.
For half a century, close to half of all American marriages crash and burn. Of those couples who stay together, how many do so happily and passionately? Why do so many men and women start off in love and end up in misery? Why is it that the field of couple's therapy has done far too little to alter these grim statistics? In this presentation, Terry Real will introduce a radical new couple's therapy approach that aims to empower the woman, and reconnect the man with a startling and liberating therapeutic truthfulness.
Cultural and religious differences provide the backdrop against which couples' issues of commitment, gender and child raising, as well as, family connectedness and cultural loyalty are played out. Mixed couples often face difficult decisions at key junctures in the life cycle. In this workshop, participants will learn to identify conflicts around culture and religion, tease out the cultural contexts of common couples' dilemmas, and help clients make informed choices about the role that group continuity, family tradition and cultural values will play in their lives.
A broad-based introduction to understanding the bio-psych-social determinants of the development of sexual and gender-identity in males and females is the basis of this workshop.
Panel 01 from the Evolution of Psychotherapy 1995 - Gender Issues
Featuring James Hillman, Ph.D.; Peggy Papp, A.C.S.W.; Miriam Polster, Ph.D.; and Olga Silverstein, M.S.W.
Moderated by William Matthews, Jr, PhD.
Presentation of the principles of feminist therapy as utilized with women who have been battered, sexually abused as children or adults. Such techniques also can be used to treat sexual misconduct by therapists and sexual harassment, including dealing with issues such as dissociation, obsessions and cognitive distortions.
The enormous changes brought about in the last 25 years by the women's movement and the sex role revolution have opened new possibilities and problems-sources of conflict and new strengths for women, men and families. There is a challenge now for psychotherapists to break through their own remnant stereotypes of feminine mystique, masculine mystique, and obsolete assumptions about family so that they may distinguish between personal and political pathology and help evolving women, men and families find and use more consciously their new strengths and confront real problems realistically.
Our present ideals of heroism are dominated by unrealistic and larger-than-life stereotypes. Not only has this narrow view eliminated much of the heroism of women, it has also provided men with simplistic solutions that are not only outmoded, but intimidating. Ultimately, it has deprived both sexes of a wide range of heroic examples and choices that could enrich their lives and the lives of those around them. This paper proposes a redefinition of heroism that expands traditional images and suggests that recognizing the unhackneyed heroism that occurs in ordinary circumstances may also enrich therapeutic possibilities.
Workshop 31 - A Feminist Perspective on Psychotherapy, featuring Sophie Freud.
A special workshop presentation from Sophie Freud at the 1985 Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference.