The Ethics of Intimacy: The Cost of Care Without Caring

Presenter: Dr. Avrum Weiss | https://www.avrumweissphd.com/

CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 (Ethics Credit)

Description:

Psychotherapists are trained to maintain therapeutic relationships that are objective. Professional codes of ethics sanction therapists for engaging in professional relationships that are too personal. In contrast, research suggests that most therapeutic failures are attributable to relationships that are not personal enough rather than relationships that are too personal.

This workshop will present a more personal, mutually subjective model for the therapeutic relationship that harkens back to the earliest roots of psychotherapy, a model that reminds us that the primary purpose of interpersonal boundaries is to facilitate connection rather than maintain distance. Ethical implications of this model will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Compare and contrast an intrapsychic vs. relational understanding of the psychotherapeutic relationship based on an understanding of the relevant research.
2. Define interpersonal intimacy in the context of a boundaried professional relationship.
3. Implement new clinical strategies utilizing the concept of the therapist’s use of self.

Recommended Readings: 

• Baur, S. (1997) The Intimate Hour: Love and Sex in Psychotherapy.
• Houghton Mifflin Company
• Dalenberg, C. (2000) Counter-transference and the Treatment of Trauma.
• The American Psychological Association.
• Heyward, C. (1993) When Boundaries Betray Us: Beyond the Illusions of what is
• Ethical in Therapy and Life. Harper San Francisco
• Psychotherapy: Theory/Research/Practice/Training (2001) Special issue: Empirically
• Supported Therapy Relationships: Summary Report of Division 29 Task Force. 38, (4).
• Weiss, A.G. (2011). Change Happens: When to Try Harder and When to Stop Trying
• So Hard. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.