R106: The Art of Intimacy: Understanding the Couple's Bond

While the term "intimacy" is often used to describe the goal of marriage, it remains one of the more poorly understood words in our clinical vocabulary. The five articles in this Reading Course offer a number of challenging perspectives on dynamics of long-term couples intimacy. Susan Johnson shows how attachment theory illuminates the inner landscape of relationship and the pathways to the restoration of trust for troubled couples. Pat Love describes the powerful automatic, biochemical processes that determine whether people fall in or out of love. Laura Markowitz discusses how therapists can help couples face issues of class, race, sexual orientation, and culture in the consulting room. Richard Schwartz and Michael Ventura each explore the challenge couples face as one of not just two people getting to know each other, but of two families of selves somehow blending.

Course Readings

The Biology of Love: What Therapists Need to Know about Attachment by Susan Johnson

The Cultural Context of Intimacy: Sometimes You Have to Take a Step Back to Get Close by Laura Markowitz

In the Marriage Zone by Michael Ventura

Know Thy Selves by Richard Schwartz

What Is This Thing Called Love? The Answers Are Being Discovered in the Laboratory by Pat Love

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss how understanding inner selves enhances couples therapy
2. Explain Self-leadership in the context of the inner family
3. Develop interventions for couples based on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
4. Identify social problems that impact couples relationships