2022 EDUCATIONAL PORTION OF THE VAPS BUSINESS MEETING: Dialogue Therapy for Couples and Real Dialogue for Opposing Sides Methods Based on Psychoanalysis and Mindfulness

Jean Pieniadz and Polly Young-Eisendrath, authors of the book Dialogue Therapy for Couples and Real Dialogue for Opposing Sides: Methods Based on Psychoanalysis and Mindfulness  (2021), will present an overview of their work with couples and other adult dyads. The work is based on the Dialogue Therapy model developed by Polly Young-Eisendrath and Ed Epstein in the early 1980s. This model highlights the unique subjective lives of partners, emphasizes differentiation as the path to intimacy, and disentangles projective-identifications through insight and dialogue skills. Real Dialogue – the core skill learned by partners and a form of mindfulness that is used in times of emotional activation and conflict -- helps people appreciate and communicate their individual meaning-making while holding a “mindful gap” between them in which something fresh can develop. This 2-hour presentation will give brief examples of the method, and some case material for questions and discussion.