This presentation will NOT be recorded for playback review.
Couples therapy is challenging because there are two people who are in distress, each wanting more from their partner and to be understood. A common denominator in treating couples is verbal communication, which relies on what is available cognitively to the couple. However, sources of tension and disconnection are often outside of their awareness, limiting the effectiveness of the treatment. When couples become emotionally charged or shut down it’s because they’re feeling threatened, by something inside of themselves or something between them and their partner.
This presentation focuses on how to use the natural workings of the autonomic nervous system to help couples engage more effectively with each other. Key components are the structure of a session, strategies for nervous system regulation, tracking the body for signs of nervous system activation and intervening effectively. This somatic-based approach enables couples to identify the true sources of distress, repair ruptures, communicate more effectively and solve problems, and sets the conditions for memory reconsolidation to take place.
https://frumtherapist.com/workshops/RepairingRuptures3/viewRepairing Ruptures in Couples Therapy:
A Mind-body Approach
Previously Recorded
Presenter: Deborah J Fox, MSW, LICSW
Course Length: 3 Hours
This workshop Offers 3 Continuing Education Credits
This webinar is recorded and will not grant live credits.
This presentation will NOT be recorded for playback review.
Couples therapy is challenging because there are two people who are in distress, each wanting more from their partner and to be understood. A common denominator in treating couples is verbal communication, which relies on what is available cognitively to the couple. However, sources of tension and disconnection are often outside of their awareness, limiting the effectiveness of the treatment. When couples become emotionally charged or shut down it’s because they’re feeling threatened, by something inside of themselves or something between them and their partner.
This presentation focuses on how to use the natural workings of the autonomic nervous system to help couples engage more effectively with each other. Key components are the structure of a session, strategies for nervous system regulation, tracking the body for signs of nervous system activation and intervening effectively. This somatic-based approach enables couples to identify the true sources of distress, repair ruptures, communicate more effectively and solve problems, and sets the conditions for memory reconsolidation to take place.
Didactic presentation (80 min):
The autonomic nervous system as the basis for understanding the dynamics of a couple
The biology of safety and danger: the three principles of the Polyvagal Theory of Emotion (Stephen Porges)
The structure of a session from a nervous system perspective
How to track the body for signs of nervous system activation into fight/flight or emotional shutdown
Strategies for regulating nervous system activation
Using the language of the body for therapeutic inquiry
Memory reconsolidation
Case examples
Experiential exercise (15 min)
Break (15 min)
Demonstration of tracking language of the body (20 min)
Experiential exercise - breakout rooms in dyads; debrief (35 min)
Q &A. (15 min)