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105: Ending Repetitive Conflicts: How to Address Core Concerts With Depth Dives and Flip Negative Cyclic Interactions to Positive Ones

CE Hours 3

About this course

When emotions become elevated, couples tend to throw their collaborative dialogue skills out the window. How can a therapist change this pattern? Closing the windows won't do it. Rather, therapists need techniques for enabling their clients to identify the 'core concerns' that trigger upsets, access their earlier-in-life roots, and then convert the old negative reactions into new and more constructive responses. Dr. Heitler refers to her visualization technique for neutralizing these problematic emotional reactions as a "depth dive." When one marriage partner's response to sensitive issues triggers the other's, couples can easily lock into reciprocal negative interaction cycles. Dr. Heitler shows how to transform these upsetting circular interactions into mutually positive ones, that is, from hurtful to loving.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the signs that a core concern has been raised in one or both partners/spouses.
  • Explain the depth dive technique for accessing and relieving the sources of overly-emotional reactions to certain triggers.
  • Describe an example of a negative reciprocal interaction.
  • State an example of a positive reciprocal interaction cycle.

Learning Levels

  • Beginning and intermediate
  • Experienced individual therapists looking to add combined individual/couple therapy to their offerings.
  • Experienced couple therapists looking to augment their therapist toolkit and to gain an integrative conceptual framework for combined individual /couple treatment.

Target Audience

The overall Effective Couples Therapy course, including this module, is for three target audiences: 1) Therapists-in-training 2) Experienced individual therapy practitioners who would like to add couple therapy to their competencies. 3) Practicing couple therapists who would like to expand their technical toolkit.

Course Instructor(s)

  • Susan Heitler

    Dr. Heitler first opened her private practice as a clinical psychologist almost 50 years ago. From her Denver office, in addition to treating both individual and couple therapy clients, Dr. Heitler has written 6 books, journal articles, plus over 300 psychologytoday.com blogposts that have garnered over 26 million reads.

    In response to her innovative perspectives, Dr. Heitler has been invited to speak on her treatment methods in most states of the US plus on almost every continent including Europe, Australia, China, India, and throughout the Middle East. In Lebanon she was chosen as the keynote speaker for the first-ever gathering of the Arab Psychological Association.

    Dr. Heitler's contributions have focused particularly on the importance of win-win conflict resolution skills for sustaining individual and also couple and family emotional health.

    Dr. Heitler's writings have earned high praise, starting with her first major book, From Conflict to Resolution, a book reviewed in the British Journal of Psychiatry as "a modern refreshing book . . . A highly commendable read for all therapists, particularly those striving to practice in what they hope is an integrative way" and by a practicing therapist in Alabama as "the best clinical psychology book I have ever read."

References

  • Nielsen, A. C. (2017). From couple therapy 1.0 to a comprehensive model: A roadmap for sequencing and integrating systemic, psychodynamic, and behavioral approaches in couple therapy. Family Process, 56(3), 540-557. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12300
  • Havaasi, N., Kaar, K. Z., & MohsenZadeh, F. (2018). Compare the efficacy of emotion focused couple therapy and Gottman couple therapy method in marital burnout and changing conflict resolution styles. Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health, 20(1).
  • Paz, C., Montesano, A., Winter, D., & Feixas, G. (2019). Cognitive conflict resolution during psychotherapy: Its impact on depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Psychotherapy Research, 29(1), 45-57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2017.1405172
  • Heitler, S. (2001). Combined individual/marital therapy: A conflict resolution framework and ethical considerations. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 11(3), 349-383.
  • Surjadi, F. F., Wickrama, K. A., & Lorenz, F. O. (2023). Do couple-and individual-level ambivalence predict later marital outcomes? The mediating role of marital conflict. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(2), 693-713. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221122852
  • Woods, C. E. A. (2021). Marriage: The Impact Of Using An Eight-Week Study On Communication And Conflict Resolution To Move Select Couples From Conflict To Forgiveness (Doctoral dissertation, Ashland Theological Seminary).
  • Heitler, S. M., (1990). From conflict to resolution: Skills and strategies for individual, couple, and family therapy. NY: Norton.
  • Heitler, S. (1997). The power of two: Secrets to a strong & loving marriage. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
  • Greenberg, L (1984). A task analysis of interpersonal conflict resolution. In L. Rice &L Greenberg (Eds.) Patterns of change. NY: Guilford
  • Luborsky, L. (1977). Measuring a pervasive psychic structure in psychotherapy: the core conflictual relationship theme. In N. Freedman & S. Grand, (Eds.), Communicative structures and psychic structures. NY, Plenum Press, 367-395.
  • Heitler, S. & Hirsch, A (2003). The power of two workbook: communication skills for a strong & loving marriage, New Harbinger.
  • Wachtel, P. L. (2011). Relational theory and the practice of psychotherapy. Guilford Press
  • Wachtel, P. L. (2017). Attachment theory and clinical practice: A cyclical psychodynamic vantage point. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 37(5), 332-342.
  • Heitler, S. (2016). Prescriptions without pills: For relief from depression, anger, anxiety, and more. NY: Morgan James.

CE Process Info

Content

  • Course Videos
    2 parts
    • Class 8: Deeper Interventions for Ending Repetitive Conflicts: Core Concerns, the Depth Dive, and Reciprocal Interactions
    • That Was Then, This Is Now (an alternative name for the Depth Dive)
  • Readings
    2 parts
    • From Conflict to Resolution by Susan Heitler, Chapter 15
    • The Power of Two by Susan Heitler, pp 273-279

  • American Psychological Association (APA)

    CE Learning Systems, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CE Learning Systems maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work (NYSEDSW)

    CE Learning Systems SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0060.

  • New York Education Department for Licensed Mental Health Counselors (NYSEDLMHC)

    CE Learning Systems, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0072.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for Marriage and Family Therapy (NYSEDMFT)

    CE Learning Systems dba CE-Credit.com & AddictionCounselorCE.com is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Marriage and Family Therapy as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0045.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology (NYSEDPSY)

    CE Learning Systems dba CE-Credit.com & AddictionCounselorCE.com is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0016.

105: Ending Repetitive Conflicts: How to Address Core Concerts With Depth Dives and Flip Negative Cyclic Interactions to Positive Ones
You Have Completed This course
$57
You are enrolled
  • CE Hours
    3
  • Type
    Self-Paced
  • Publication Date
    Jul 12th, 2024

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