with Melissa Dropkin, LCSW
Brown Bag Lunch Series
FREE WORKSHOP
Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
On Zoom – 1 CE*
*$17 CE Administrative Fee
Marriage is difficult. Two different people. Two different sets of values. How can marriages actually function well? This workshop will explore, through the case of Bryce and Lara, whose real identities are completely disguised, how a Modern Psychoanalytic approach can help a marriage function better, and even thrive. We will also examine the views, rooted in Modern Psychoanalytic theory and technique, that helped me to support and strengthen this marriage.
My grandmother, Dr. Shirley Love, believed in the notion that Modern Psychoanalysts do not simply treat individuals, but need to engage the family in order to effectively treat the patient. Dr. Love stated that, “psychoanalysts are inevitably family therapists. In treatment patients reveal verbally, behaviorally, and transferentially, preoedipal and oedipal ties to their families of origin, and often request that family members and spouses participate more actively in their therapy.” As with Dr. Love’s notion of family therapy, couples counseling involves the dyad as the patient, bringing all their emotional ties to early patterns into sessions. This requires a special balancing by the therapist keeping the couples unit center stage, while being mindful of the unique personality and needs of each partner.
Couples work is complex. How can we effectively treat the couple who is the real patient in therapy office, while addressing the needs of each individual in the process? What are some therapeutic interventions that can help defuse tensions in couples counseling, helping each partner be more accessible and able to resolve emotional roadblocks to partnering?
Course Objectives – Participants will learn to:
- Identify persistent latent conflicts that exist in a marriage or couple, as in the case of Bryce and Lara.
- Formulate a couples’ treatment plan utilizing foundational concepts and techniques discussed in this workshop.
- Describe and define at least two therapeutic interventions that can help defuse tensions in couples therapy.
Melissa Dropkin is a psychotherapist with a private practice in northern New Jersey. She works with individuals, couples, families, and children. Ms. Dropkin is a graduate of the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service with a Master of Social Work. She is also a certified K-12 English Education teacher through William Paterson University. Ms. Dropkin has spent her entire career as a private practitioner seeing patients remotely and in person. She maintains a philosophy that the most important aspect of clinical work is the relationship bond formed between therapists and those in their offices looking to find ways to get along better in life.
FREE WORKSHOP
For questions or information, email Cassio Campello at
[email protected] or call 973-629-1002
Learn about ACAP’s CE programs and
nationally accredited psychoanalytic program
at
Learn about BGSP-NJ’s regionally accredited MAs in
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
and in Psychoanalysis
at
nj.bgsp.edu
