I. Psychoeducational Groups
The Dating and Relationship Group:
The Ties That Bind Us: Ways of Connecting in Romantic Love Relationships
The human brain features a sophisticated and well-honed capacity to connect with others, a capacity forged in our evolutionary legacy. The entirely dependent infant, for example, is highly sensitive to the overt and subtle demands of the caregiver. Scientific evidence suggests that as early as the first weeks of life the child unconsciously begins to develop strategies to establish and maintain the bond with the caregiver. These adaptive strategies become further refined and patterned across childhood and into adolescence and young adulthood, ultimately manifesting in diverse types of relationships including romantic relationships.
It is a truth of nature, however, that the adaptive strategies originating in childhood often do not serve a positive function in adult intimate relationships. In fact, they may actually do quite a lot of damage and even sabotage close relationships in adulthood.
What is unfortunate is that many individuals do not realize or understand the need to jettison their prior adaptive capacities and replace them with more developmentally appropriate and effective bonding strategies that actually support mature romantic intimacy.
In the next meeting of the Dating and Relationship Group on Saturday, March 4, 2017 (12:00 to 1:15 PM), the necessary transition from childlike adaptive strategies to more mature ways of forming intimate connections will be discussed. Attendees will be exposed to the types of adaptive capacities of childhood and provided with guidelines on how to go about refining them to achieve greater fulfillment in adult relationships.
The Men's Group:
Millennials in the Workplace
It is a reality that the contemporary workforce now includes, among other diversity factors, at least three prominent generations of workers: Millenials, Generation Xers, and Baby Boomers. The differences between these groups are astounding and have been widely documented. On a diverse range of issues including core values, financial goals, workplace environment preferences, competition, and relationships with managers, considerable differences between these generations of workers exist and are palpable. Yet, some experts suggest that these workers may actually be more similar than different, and that essential elements of the human condition shared by all ultimately overshadow discrepancies.
In the next meeting of the Men's Group on Saturday, March 4, 2017 (12:00 to 1:15 PM),
we will explore the generational gap in the workplace and consider a common ground amidst an array of differences.
**To register for the March 4th meetings of the Men's Group (10:45 AM to 12:00 PM) and/or the "Dating and Relationship Group" (12:00 to 1:15 PM): If you would like to attend one or both of these groups on Saturday, March 4, 2017, please RSVP ASAP to Dr. Tobin at 949-338-4388 or jt@jamestobinphd.com. There is a limit of 14 attendees for each group and registrants will be accommodated on a first-come/first-serve basis. The fee is $25.00 and the location is The Water Garden Business Center, 23421 South Pointe Drive, Suite 130, Laguna Hills, CA, 92653. Please note that these groups are educational in purpose, not therapeutic, and do not constitute psychotherapy or counseling.
II. Recent Talk
The Paradigm of "The Erotic Hinge" and Its Clinical Utility
On Saturday, February 25, 2017, I presented a 3-hour workshop sponsored by the Orange County Psychology Association at the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University in Orange, CA. For those who could not attend, the slides for this presentation are available for your review. The talk generated lively and provocative commentary from audience members who consisted of mental health professionals, laypersons, administrators, and medical professionals.
Video clips that were used to highlight major points in the talk included:
(1) a couple married for 50 years speaking about their love:
(2) an example of "surrogation" in which an adult man regresses into a temper tantrum and becomes "mothered" by his partner:
(3) a father and daughter "covering" an Indie song
that was used to showcase Lacan's concept of "jouissance":
III. New Blog Posts
IV. Psychoanalyst Mark Sehl
Mark Sehl, a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst, has created a series of YouTube videos on the psychotherapy process that I have found very insightful and informative.
