In this workshop we provide an integrative framework to guide therapists on how to address problems of sexuality and aging in couple therapy. Starting from considerations about the social context of aging and the self of the therapist, we demonstrate how normative sexual challenges become entangled with stigma, misconceptions about sexuality, limiting gender narratives, vulnerabilities, and defensive postures that often result in emotional and sexual shutdowns.
Through a combination of the vulnerability cycle with an expansive definition of sexuality, we demonstrate how to deconstruct impasses, disentangle normative quandaries from reactive dynamics, and help couples transform their sexual narratives. Case material will be presented.
Learning Objectives:
- To integrate the use of the vulnerability cycle and relational sexual history material to identify sources of emotional and sexual problems in elder couples
- To utilize mindful touch to begin physical connection and challenge limiting sexual and gender narratives
- To utilize sexual menus to expand intimacy and sexuality beyond penetration and orgasms
Presenters:
Suzanne Iasenza, PhD is on the faculties of the Adelphi University Derner Institute’s Postgraduate Program in Psychoanalysis, and the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP), where she also serves as Co-Director of the Sex Therapy Training Program (STP). Her latest book, Transforming Sexual Narratives: A Relational Approach to Sex Therapy was published by Routledge.
Michele Scheinkman, LCSW is a faculty member at Ackerman Institute where she is Director of the Couples and Intimacies Project. She is a psychotherapist in NYC and Visiting Faculty at the Instituto do Casal, Sao Paulo, Brazil. She lectures and workshops in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
- March 17, 2023
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Suzanne Iasenza, PhD and Michele Scheinkman, LCSW
3 CE Contact Hours
Location: Online Event
Description:
A link will be emailed to you one day before the event. Online events are held in Eastern Standard Time (ET).