Transforming Couple Vulnerability Cycles: Neurobiology Meets Relational Ethics

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

Couples in distress often come to therapy disconnected, disempowered, and emotionally dysregulated. They may be stuck in cycles of blame and defensiveness in which each partner’s vulnerability triggers their survival strategy, which in turn triggers the other partner. Driven by their emotional brain, they focus on their own hurt, unable to hold the feelings of the other. We will explore the origins of these vulnerability cycles in neurobiology as well as family-of-origin experiences. From The perspective of relational ethics, each person’s behavior impacts the other, for better or worse.

Dr. Fishbane will discuss ways to transform the cycle, helping couples identify their own higher goals and values, operationalizing them into concrete choices and behaviors that hold each partner’s own concerns as well as concern for the other. This work is empowering, as each partner becomes more intentional and capable of reaching for their best self rather than reacting on automatic pilot.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Identify and map couple vulnerability cycles
• Identify neurobiological factors fueling the cycle
• Work to transform the cycle by helping partners develop skills of emotion regulation and identify their higher goals and values for the relationship

Who Should Attend:

Mental health professionals, therapists, and social workers

Meet Dr. Mona Fishbane:

Mona Fishbane, PhD, clinical psychologist in New Jersey, is former Director of Couple Therapy Training, Chicago Center for Family Health. Mona lectures nationally and internationally; she has published numerous articles on couple therapy, intergenerational relationships, and interpersonal neurobiology. Mona received the 2017 Family Psychologist of the Year Award from The American Psychological Association (Society for Couple & Family Psychology); and the 2023 Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Award from AFTA (American Family Therapy Academy). Mona’s book, Loving with the Brain in Mind: Neurobiology & Couple Therapy (2013), is part of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. Mona’s website: www.monafishbane.com

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