Re-conceptualizing the interplay of work, achievement, and personal values, Bethany Butzer, Ph.D. presents her concept of "downstream effort" in this TED Talk.
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II. Blog Articles and Podcast Recordings |
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IV. Virtual Seminars on Saturday, March 20, 2021* |
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The Men's Group Seminar: Dynamics of Childhood Re-Emerge in the Workplace
The first group we encounter, our family of origin, introduced us to a formative set of conditions within which we learned how to navigate and persevere. This unique family culture taught us how to negotiate a range of power and influence dynamics, setting the stage for our functioning in groups across development and our interpersonal patterns with peers, subordinates, and authority figures. As adults, the work environments we choose and the career trajectory we travel invariably reflect our childhoods, both in terms of what we successfully overcame and what may remain unresolved. There is now a significant body of research as well as evidence from the coaching and corporate consulting industries indicating the unconscious motivation to find in our professional lives a new family that resembles our original family. According to numerous theoretical perspectives, what we are seeking is a repetition (or replication) of early life circumstances that are familiar, and potentially resolvable, once and for all. And, eerily, various interpersonal processes including transference and projective identification make this replication possible. In the next virtual meeting of the Men's Group Seminar on Saturday, March 20, 2021 (10:15 AM to 11:30 AM), we will explore how the past comes alive in the present, with the workplace serving as center stage for the emergence of old narratives and the potential for new ones.
To register for this upcoming virtual seminar, please see the directions below.
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The Relationship Group Seminar: The Single Most Important Dynamic You Must Overcome in Your Relationship: Polarization
Polarization refers to an unconscious interpersonal dynamic in which particular desires, preferences, views and/or emotions become unequally dispersed across the members of a couple, group or community. The phenomenon is insidious, common, and often shocking in terms of how powerful the dynamics are that it yields. For example, in the early phase of an emerging romantic relationship, one partner may occupy the role of the "pursuer," i.e., wanting to spend more and more time together, asking for more frequent and deeper communication, perhaps even wanting to move in together, while the other partner occupies the role of the "distancer," i.e., opposing these bids for connection, pushing back, attempting to preserve time spent apart. Once the polarization gains traction, it often intensifies so much so that the gap between the partners widens to the point of irreconcilability. The partners become caricatures of and for each other, with each inevitably being unable to see, understand or accept the perspective of the other. Once this occurs, the relationship is likely doomed. What is surprising is that, psychologically, polarization serves an important function in any relationship or larger system in which it appears: instead of having to feel everything equally, one person "specializes" in harboring certain emotions and perspectives while another person specializes in harboring others. Scapegoating, favoritism, infidelity, racism, self-sabotage, divorce, and narcissism are just some of the many significant problems and issues that feature polarization. In the next virtual meeting of the Relationship Group Seminar on Saturday, March 20, 2021 (11:45 AM to 1:00 PM), we will explore how polarization originates and progresses in romantic relationships. The approach-avoidance dynamic will be one of several paradigms of polarization we will consider. Our discussion also will unpack a specific vulnerability in intimate relationships that supports the emergence of polarization: our universal susceptibility to receiving and embodying the projections of others.
To register for this upcoming virtual seminar, please see the directions below.
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The Dynamic Psychotherapy Process Group
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 virtual group session will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2021 (1:15 to 2:30 PM). The Dynamic Psychotherapy Process Group is a therapeutic experience and entry occurs only after a pre-group screening interview.
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* Registration Directions: If you would like to attend the virtual meeting of the Men's Group Seminar and/or the Relationship Group Seminar on March 20, 2021, please RSVP to me at 949-338-4388 or jt@jamestobinphd.com on or before Thursday, March 18, 2021. The fee is $25.00 (payable before entering the virtual meeting) and informed consent for participation in this telehealth event must be completed prior to the seminars. Please note that the Men's Group Seminar and the Relationship Group Seminar are psychoeducational in nature, not therapeutic, and do not constitute psychotherapy or counseling.
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