Expired Expanding Sexual Frames in Theory and Practice in Couple Therapy

Sexuality issues are often the elephant in the room in couple psychotherapy. Some couple therapists feel unprepared to delve into sexual issues because they have not had sufficient training in human sexuality. Others feel challenged by the complexities and mysteries of common presenting problems such as the effects of trauma on sexuality or the influence of desire on couple sexuality.

This workshop will provide expansive models of sexual response, how to conduct a therapeutic sexual history, and co-creating expansive therapeutic frames that include new approaches to standard sex therapy techniques. Case material will illustrate the integration of systems, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioral thinking as well as the nuances of working with same sex and gender variant couples.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify and explain major models of human sexual response, sexual orientation, and gender identity
• To discuss how to conduct and utilize a sexual history in treatment planning
• To identify contemporary sex therapy techniques that integrate psychodynamic, systems, and cognitive behavioral approaches

Presenter:

Suzanne Iasenza, PhD, is Faculty at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ICP) and the Postgraduate Program in Couple and Family Therapy of Adelphi University’s Derner Institute. She is also a member of Ackerman’s Project on Couples and Intimacies. She is co-editor of the books Lesbians and Psychoanalysis: Revolutions in Theory and Practice (1995) and Lesbians, Feminism and Psychoanalysis: The Second Wave (2004). Her forthcoming book, Transforming Sexual Narratives will be published by Routledge.