Infidelity and Intimacy: Strange Bedfellows

The pressures are great to take sides in favor of the partner who was betrayed, and to hold the unfaithful partner responsible for a troubled marriage. Too often the underbelly of the couple relationship that promoted the acting out receives inadequate attention. An informed couple therapist is faced with strains to work only in the here and now fallout of the affair. In this seminar we examine the affair as symptomatic of couple developmental failures, and co-constructed marital distress that requires a deep dive into unconscious dynamics that go unnoticed or ignored. We discuss specific techniques that will increase the therapist’s therapeutic potential for engaging in a therapy that works with conscious relational problems and unconscious motives in tandem.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

1. Understand the unconscious conditions that set the stage for infidelity.
2. Assess couples that lack the requisite developmental resources to establish emotional and sexual intimacy.
3. Identify technical issues when engaging the couple’s relational and interpsychic system of defenses and grievances.
4. Recognize projective identifications that promote infidelity.
5. Identify counter-transferences that influence therapist attitudes towards the betraying partner.
6. Understand the threats to the couple’s future relationship based on the type of affair.

Workshop Information

Date

January 10, 17 and 24, 2025

Time

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EST

Location

Online, live via Zoom

CEUs

6 CE contact hours available for NYS: Psy, SW, MHC, MFT & Psychoanalysts and APA: Psy

Fee

• $300

Registration will close 48 hours before the start of the event.

Speaker

Carl Bagnini, LCSW

Carl Bagnini, LCSW-R, BCD, is a clinical social worker and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. He is a graduate of New York University GSSW, and received post-graduate training at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, and the Long Island Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is a senior and founding faculty at the International Psychotherapy Institute in Washington, DC, where he teaches in the child psychoanalysis and child  psychotherapy programs, the couple and family therapy program and Carl hosts the national and international teleconferencing Master Practitioner’s and Couple Therapy series, where he is a featured presenter. Carl teaches at three other psychoanalytic institutes. Carl is a featured presenter in the US and internationally on object relations topics. Carl has published over 25 papers and book chapters on object relations psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Carl’s most recent publication is the book: Keeping Couples in Treatment: Working from Surface to Depth, published by Rowman and Littlefield (2013). Carl’s private practice is in Port Washington, NY (US).

Credentialing Information

Adelphi University is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Adelphi University maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Adelphi University, Derner School of Psychology, 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-0024 and by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0607 and 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-0185 and by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0083.

Disclaimer Statement

This continuing education seminar, seminar instructor/s, and the Postgraduate Programs as the seminar’s sponsor, receive no commercial support for the content of instruction (e.g., research grants funding research findings etc.), or benefit for endorsement of products (e.g., books, training, drugs, etc.) that are known to present a conflict of interest.

Cancellation Policy

Full refunds are issued for cancellations made up to 7 working days before the event. Cancellations of less than 7 days for any reason, or no-shows are not refunded. Credit towards a future event/workshop are issued for cancellations less than 7 days and up to 24 hours before the event. No credit is issued for cancellations less than 24 hours before the events or no-shows.