Learning Day on the Topic: The Theoretical and Practical Transition Between Individual and Couple Therapy (and Back)

Therapists who perform individual and couple therapies may encounter situations in which there are overt or covert "partners" - when both individual and couple therapy are being conducted simultaneously. Being an individual therapist for a patient who is also in couple therapy, or conversely, being the couple therapist for a couple one of whom is also in individual therapy, is a challenging professional experience. In addition, therapists are often required to move between working at the individual level and working at the couple and systemic levels. The concurrent nature of the therapies as well as the need to switch between the individual and couple medium (and back) raises many theoretical and practical questions and dilemmas.

On this learning day, we will offer concepts from integrative and relational approaches to psychotherapy, which challenge the division that exists between the worlds. We will suggest that both theoretically and clinically, the transition between individual therapy and couples therapy can be accomplished under a shared and integrative conceptual framework for the human psyche and the marital fabric. The learning will combine lecture, discussions, and case presentation.