SCAMFT 2023 Annual Conference
New Ways of Working with Men in Psychotherapy Part I:
The Impact of Men’s Hidden Fears of Women on Their Intimate Relationships
Men are not doing well; physically, financially, and emotionally. Being male is now the single largest demographic factor for early death. Accordingly, there is a resurgence of interest in studying men and masculinity in our field as an essential aspect of multicultural competence. To this point, the psychology of men has not been well developed in our field, which limits our effectiveness in engaging men in treatment and providing effective clinical interventions for men and their intimate partners. This presentation works to develop new understandings of the psychology of men and how those new understandings can be applied to clinical work with men and their intimate partners.
The afternoon workshop will build on the clinical formulations from the morning and address topics such as how to engage men effectively in treatment, and gender-sensitive approaches for working with men and their intimate partners.
The ethics of intimacy: The Cost of Care without Caring
Psychotherapists are trained to maintain therapeutic relationships that are objective. Professional codes of ethics sanction therapists for engaging in professional relationships that are too personal. In contrast, research suggests that most therapeutic failures are attributable to relationships that are not personal enough, rather than relationships that are too personal.
This workshop will present a more personal, mutually subjective model for the therapeutic relationship that harkens back to the earliest roots of psychotherapy, a model that reminds us that the primary purpose of interpersonal boundaries is to facilitate connection rather than maintain distance. Ethical implications of this model will be discussed.
Who Gets Up in the Middle of the Night in Your House:
A Relational Perspective on anxiety in Couples
In this final workshop, we will examine anxiety from a relationship perspective in couples and discuss the role of positive anxiety psychotherapy. The bulk of the workshop will be devoted to integrating all of the learning from the conference. Participants are invited to bring their questions and clinical case material for consultation.
Meet Our Speaker:
Dr. Avrum W Weiss
Dr. Weiss is an award-winning author, speaker, teacher and consultant. He is nationally recognized for his pioneering work developing the theory and application of experiential psychotherapy, and his groundbreaking work on a comprehensive theory of change in individuals and organizations.
He has trained hundreds of psychotherapists in a more personal relational model of psychotherapy. His work in the last decade has focused on developing a new understanding of the internal lives of men and helping men and women gain new understanding of each other, culminating in the publication of his most recent book Hidden in Plain Sight: How Men’s Fears of Women Shape Their Intimate Relationships. He lives on an island in mid-coast of Maine, with his wife and dog.