Susanna Abse - cheating couples: Clinical challenges
Infidelity is a common presenting problem in couple therapy and is often the precipitating factor in a referral. Dissatisfaction with the relationship may have been on a low boil for years, but an affair catapults the couple into a crisis.
Affairs present particular ethical and technical challenges to the therapist and this practical seminar will examine these, together with the underlying unconscious processes which may be at the heart of the difficulties.
Affairs can have myriad meanings and purposes and can represent developmental hope as well as destructive wishes both for the individual and the relationship. Some affairs end quickly, but at other times one partner finds it almost impossible to give up the relationship which can present a considerable dilemma to the therapist.
The workshop, for individual, group, family and couple psychotherapists and counsellors, will include an examination about the wider evidence for successful therapy with affairs, along with clinical vignettes from both couple and individual work, video material and group discussion.
About the trainer
Susanna Abse is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and organisational consultant who has worked in private practice with couples and individuals for over 25 years. She is the current Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council and was Chief Executive of Tavistock Relationships from 2006 until 2016. She is a series co-editor of 'The Library of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis' for Routledge, and has written several papers on couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy focusing particularly on technical issues and is currently preparing a paper on infidelity. She has also written and lectured widely on relationships, parenting, leadership, and social policy. She is a Senior Fellow of the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, and from 2017-18 she was a member of the University of Birmingham’s Mental Health Policy Commission.
Book here: https://tavistockrelationships.ac.uk/forthcoming-events/1236-cheating-couples