Expired Healing Intergenerational Wounds: A Relational-Neurobiological Approach to Transform Family Relationships

In this workshop, Dr. Fishbane will explore ways to facilitate healing and dialogue in distressed relationships between adults and their families of origin, especially parents.

Utilizing a resilience-based view and a relational intergenerational approach, topics to be addressed include family legacies and loyalties, resentment and blame, cutoffs, differentiation, boundaries, power, guilt, repair, and forgiveness. Gender-based and cultural beliefs that affect intergenerational relationships will inform the discussion. The neurobiology underlying reactivity between adult children and their parents will be explored, along with interventions to facilitate emotional intelligence and relational empowerment between the generations. The challenges of caring for frail parents as they age will be considered.

Theory and techniques, with case illustrations, will be offered to facilitate intergenerational repair, focusing on ways to honor and care for parents while honoring and caring for one’s self.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the basics of neurobiology as it affects emotional functioning in intergenerational family relationships
• Identify problematic dances of reactivity between adults and their families of origin, and ways to intervene to facilitate change in the intergenerational family
• Learn how to utilize neuroplasticity, the ability of the adult brain to change, to empower clients in their change process

Presenter:

Mona D. Fishbane, PhD, is Faculty and Former Director of Couple Therapy Training at the Chicago Center for Family Health. She is a clinical psychologist in New Jersey and Illinois. She is also the author of numerous articles and the book, Loving with the Brain in Mind: Neurobiology & Couple Therapy (Norton, 2013). She is the 2012 grant recipient of The Templeton Foundation. She was recognized by the American Psychological Association (Society for Couple & Family Psychology) with the 2017 Family Psychologist of the Year award.