Psychotherapy Networker Symposium
Omni Shoreham Hotel
Washington, D.C.
March 21, 2003

NOT Just Friends: Treating the New Crisis of Infidelity

Abstract

Today's workplace and the Internet have triggered a new crisis of infidelity among good people in good marriages . This workshop will explore how therapists can approach the serious threat of friendships that insidiously evolve into intense love affairs. It will offer a trauma recovery model to cope with the obsessing, flashbacks, and hypervigilance following the disclosure of infidelity that integrates the trauma literature with the most recent infidelity research. Participants will learn how to open a window between spouses, erect a wall between the unfaithful spouse and the extramarital partner, and move couples from inquisition to an empathic search for meaning.