During this time of extreme polarization in the country, political stress has invaded couple relationships. Loyalties to different political tribes create tensions, as do different ways of coping with this stressful environment. This is new territory for couples therapists, and of course we are dealing with our own distress about what’s going on the country. The presenter will offer clinical strategies for helping couples in turbulent times, along with examples of how he has applied couples therapy strategies to create community interventions to reduce polarization, via the nonprofit Braver Angels.
Couple therapists must be able to organize each session in such a way that allows for measuring progress in their treatment plan. One such way is to think of placing the couple and therapist in discreet “containers” or exercises that stress the couple. These exercises, tasks, or games allow the therapist to test and retest hypotheses, test a particular capacity, or otherwise allow the therapist to view couple performance in real time. These containers include a task, timing, and possible roles casted by the therapist and may include a role the therapist must also play. An example might be a psychodrama whereby partners must replay a recent event – step by step – as the therapist, as investigator, gets the facts. Or another container might involve a deal breaker issue whereby partners are required to persuade each other out of a deal breaker while the therapist plays the role of mediating only the manner in which partners argue their points.
Motivational factors may be central in the life of a couple. The panel will describe conflicts due to motivational factors and provide therapeutic options.
In psychotherapy, negative emotions are essential parts of a client's stuck places. This workshop focus on how to identify, welcome, and transform such difficult emotions, such that they become integral elements of a solution.
In this workshop I will show how to use a process-based therapy approach to guide intervention, based on a new form of process-based functional analysis. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and an extended form of its psychological flexibility model I will show how idiographic analysis can be used to fit treatment kernels to client needs, rather than using protocols that target syndromes.
Couples often come to therapy in the aftermath of infidelity. Their marriage is in crisis, their emotions are intense, and you are required to quickly organize a lot of complex information into a coherent treatment plan. How do you do this with confidence?
Discover what to look for, how to delineate core treatment issues in the initial, middle and termination stages of therapy. Next, use 10 parameters to assess the meaning of the infidelity and then uncover the major types of lies and deception to give you a solid way to determine what to address and when.
Most of us feel reasonably intact and continuous, despite the constant commotion in our lives, our relationships, and our cells. But what exactly is a "Self?" In this talk I'll explore how the brain becomes the mind, and how it builds a sense of self (even a secret society of selves), to manage the everchanging mental fantasia in which we spend our days.
Creating lasting and ecological change frequently involves interventions on multiple interconnected levels such as: environment, behaviors, capabilities, beliefs, values, identity and sense of purpose. Working with these different levels involves different dynamics and produces a different degree of impact. It is important to have a road map and toolbox for how to influence clients at all of these levels. This session will explore the different types of processes and qualities of relationship that are necessary to produce change at multiple levels.
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 kill romance and take over a couples life.
As therapists we tend to look at our 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.
Ellyn will delineate 6 foundational skills that support couples who work together and demonstrate how the business can become a source of connection rather than generating stress and disconnection. (Includes video)