The Men's Group

10:15 to 11:30 AM

The Relationship Group

11:45 AM to 1:00 PM

The Dynamic Psychotherapy Process Group

1:15 to 2:30 PM 

The Water Garden Business Center

23421 South Pointe Drive, Suite 130

Laguna Hills, CA, 92653

Although it might be cliché, the child's relationship with his or her caregivers impacts psychological and emotional development across the lifespan in profound ways. For a boy, it appears that even more influential than his relationship with his father is his relationship with his mother. This nature of this particular bond, and its emerging dynamics and conditions, sets the stage for a man's sense of himself, others and what is available to him in his interpersonal life. In the next meeting of the Men's Group on Saturday, March 17, 2018 (10:15 to 11:30 AM), we will explore how the mother-son relationship influences the boy's development and transition into adulthood. We will pay close attention to adaptive vs. maladaptive maternal attitudes and behaviors and their differential impacts on masculine development. 

In our last meeting, we focused on how to identity the tactics used to manipulate and coerce others. Since these tactics are commonly employed by narcissistic individuals to gain psychological and emotional control, they are insidious, highly impactful and quite damaging. Even if you are well-equipped to identity when you are being manipulated and by whom, it then takes significant emotional confidence and finesse to negotiate the interaction and relationship to your advantage. In the next meeting of the Relationship Group on Saturday, March 17, 2018 (11:45 AM to 1:00 PM), we will explore an approach to responding to manipulators that preserves your self-control and self-esteem and dilutes the power of the manipulator. We will focus on the work of George Simon, Ph.D. (acclaimed author of In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People and Character Disturbance: The Phenomenon of Our Age) and also consider the contributions of Meredith Miller (InnerIntegration.com) to this area. If you plan to attend this meeting, please try to watch the following YouTube videos: Miller's Interview of Dr. Simon , Miller's "Don't Give Away Your Power to the Narcissist," and Miller's "5 Ways to Disarm Toxic People."  

This therapy group utilizes the emerging dynamics among group members, and between the group members and facilitator, as a basis from which to examine one's characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others.  Our next group session will be on Saturday, March 17, 2018 (1:15 to 2:30 PM).  A second process group is starting and interested persons may contact me directly at 949-338-4388 or jt@jamestobinphd.com for more information.