Whether through desire conflicts, chronic dissatisfaction, affairs, or dysfunctions, sexual issues form a large part of every therapist's practice. This workshop is for psychotherapists of all backgrounds who wish to understand and influence their clients' sexual functioning and decision-making.
Unfortunately, virtually all of us have grown up in a sex-negative culture, which affects our work as much as it affects our client's lives. Participants, therefore, will learn a compelling new model of sexuality that focusses on its positive aspects; challenges clients' tendencies to self-identify as inadequate; sees society's sex-negativity as a source of psycho-sexual pathology; confronts ways in which psychotherapy demonizes sexuality; and takes spirituality seriously.
As a result, participants will be able to empower clients to make better sexual choices, function more as they would like to, and better integrate eroticism into their relationships. With plenty of specific case material and time for questions, topics covered include:
Many Americans use the words sex, love, and intimacy interchangeably. These do not mean the same thing, however, and our culture's confusion about this contributes to both relationship and sexual dissatisfaction.
This workshop will present innovative definitions of love, sex, and intimacy; discuss how our culture--and psychotherapy--confuses them; examine how patients can communicate about them more effectively; and explore strategies to understand them independent of each other--so patients can better connect them when appropriate, enriching their lives.
Using this perspective, we will focus on issues including: