The Psychology of Relationships: Promoting Intimacy with Couples, Children and Adolescents

The quest for intimacy often brings people into therapy, and therapists are expected to provide not only a psychologically intimate experience but also to help clients achieve intimacy in their lives outside the therapy hour. This course examines the different kinds of intimacy therapists experience with their clients and are expected to promote between couples, and between parents and children. The course presents ideas and techniques to use with, and teach to, clients so that they can experience intimacy and enhance their relationships with their mates and children. The course also includes information on the too-often neglected field of intimacy with wheel-chair bound people.

This intermediate level course, consisting of six podcast interviews (transcript provided), presents a variety of orientations and treatments, all with the common goal of opening clinicians’ hearts and minds to the rich dynamics of relationships. Part One, featuring noted couples experts Daniela Roher, Ph.D., Susan Schwartz, Ph.D. and Tamar Kron, Ph.D., explores Jungian and psychodynamic approaches to couple work. In Part Two, authors and clinicians Michael Ocana, M.D. and Sarah Chana Radcliffe, M.Ed. explain how to work with adolescents and frightened children to enhance communication and help these often difficult populations feel understood. In Part Three, Sue Johnson, Ph.D. take couples work beyond mere problem solving and present ideas and techniques to enhance intimacy and drive it deeper. In Part Four, psychologist and disability expert Danielle Sheypuk, Ph.D., wheel-chair bound since birth, discusses the misconceptions about disabled people and relationships and presents ideas to help clinicians encourage them to connect with others in physically and emotionally intimate relationships. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.