This workshop examines the cultural pressures that shape domesticated sex and the puzzling inverse correlation between greater emotional intimacy and the loss of sexual desire. It will demonstrate how to help couples draw pleasure from the hidden, the suggestive and the uncanny while also respecting their needs for safety and stability. Using case examples, we will explore how to grant the body its profound capacities for communicating in its own language.
The development and function of the self's capacity for intimacy is described through infancy, childhood and adolescence. The normal process of achieving intimacy is outlined. The illusions of intimacy of Disorders of the Self are then described with detailed clinical presentations of each diagnostic category. The therapeutic interventions necessary to deal with these defenses are then outlined.
This workshop will present cognitive experiential and behavioral techniques to help women and men in their intimate relationships. There will be a special emphasis on personal and work-related male/female relationships and how to deal with negative reactions to "out of role" behavior, such as women's assertiveness and men's expressions of intimacy. Live demonstrations will be offered.