Quotable Moments From Recent Conferences

This spring I presented keynotes and workshops at The Couples Conference in Oakland and at a UCLA conference called Relationships and the Health-Promoting Power of Connection Across the Lifespan. Both events featured faculty that trained, enlightened and entertained participants.

I’m still reviewing in my mind some of the great things I heard there. And I thought I’d share a few quotable moments. It’s impossible to paint a complete picture using just snippets, but I think you’ll agree that these are some memorable ideas and turns of phrase. I hope you enjoy them – and remember them when they might be helpful!

Helen Fisher
Men are two and a half times more likely to kill themselves after a relationship ends.

Don’t make any major live decisions while madly in love. Let this wear off because people don’t make good decisions when madly in love. Love is indeed blind.

Esther Perel
Esther says, “Before I meet your problems, I’d like to meet the person.” And then she asks some good questions:

  • What makes it difficult to live with you?
  • What is a vulnerability your partner grapples with?

Terry Real

Masculinity is at war with itself.
Patriarchy damages both sexes.
Developmentally, men have only been allowed lust and anger.
Men fear subjugation not intimacy.

Stan Tatkin
Check with yourself. Does your approach fit the capacity of the brain in front of you?
Sometimes we interpret deficits as defenses. Defenses protect the self while a deficit has no purpose.
The autonomic nervous system is very fast. We make things up and our memories can’t be trusted. It is not about facts. It is about getting to repair.

Ed Tronick
Interactions are messy and filled with mismatches. It is repairing the messiness that leads to growth and change.
When a child or infant can’t repair, they get stuck in:

  • I can’t cope.
  • I am helpless and hopeless.
  • I am not whole.

When repair happens, they recognize:

  • I can connect.
  • You can be trusted.
  • The world is safe to explore.
  • Something wrong can move to something right

And here are a few lines from my presentations….

Dr. Ellyn Bader
Tremendous growth happens when couples learn to “swim in anxious soup together. ” This means learning to tolerate anxiety for growth, rather than moving to control and manage one another or collapsing and complying in order not to threaten each other.

Sustained change often happens faster in couples therapy than it does in individual therapy.

Couples Therapy is a true specialty. Marriages and primary attachments are so precious.

It is too easy to do damage to a bond that is stressed or disillusioned. It is not a therapy be undertaken lightly by a therapist who only sees individuals or 1-2 couples a week.

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Susanne Johanna Gnad
Susanne Johanna Gnad

Thank you very much, Ellyn, for letting us be part of
your experience and for sharing this with us!!!

Marla
Marla

I always appreciate your words of wisdom and all you share
Thank you

Kane
Kane

Ellyn you are a wonderful gift to the world.

Cecile
Cecile

Helpful and hopeful. Thank you.

Wendy
Wendy

Pearls of great worth. Such wisdom and generosity. Thank you, Ellyn. The training I received years ago guides my work every session. My ratio of couples to individuals has steadily increased yet I also find success working within the Developmental Model with individuals whose partner won’t come for therapy.

Lisa Jennings
Lisa Jennings

WOW !!! Sorry to be so inarticulate but WOW !!
Great great quotes and so helpful and usable. Thank you.

Lisa Jennings
Lisa Jennings

Ellyn I am very grateful for all you do. This is a treasure.

Sandra Nix M.A LMFT
Sandra Nix M.A LMFT

Thank you Ellen. Wise words to live and practice. And one needs to see more than 2 couples a week! They are good teachers of those wise words.
Many blessings to you.

ginger edwards
ginger edwards

Thank you Ellen. I love your model so much. I also trained with Terry Real for years and a little with Stan. I am growing along with my clients as this work deepens. I honor it so much and feel blessed to be on this journey towards health and healing. ginger edwards

Christina Long
Christina Long

Thanks Ellyn for sharing these quotes. I recently completed Relational Life Therapy Level with Terry Real and it has changed my approach to working with couples. I am looking forward to learning more about the Developmental Model this coming year.

Christina Long
Christina Long

oops I meant to add RLT Level 1

Daphne de Marneffe
Daphne de Marneffe

After many years working with couples, I use what I learned from Ellyn’s training every day.

deb hecker
deb hecker

Words to live by. Thanks, as always for filling us up with your wisdom.

Betty Rygiewicz, LMFT
Betty Rygiewicz, LMFT

Thank you for these words of wisdom. I appreciate your generosity.

irene sardanis
irene sardanis

Appreciate all your wisdom and sharing.
I’m a retired psychologist.
Does anyone remember Marty Kirchenbaum?
I took family therapy classes with him at his home.

Susan Lancaster
Susan Lancaster

Thank you Ellyn for always being there for us and sharing your knowledge and experience in the world of connection and relationships.

Kate
Kate

Thanks for sharing this Ellyn! Your generosity is most appreciated.

Cynthia Hunter PhD MFT
Cynthia Hunter PhD MFT

Thank you , Ellen . Your generosity and depth of caring for healing Couples is beautifully illustrated by sharing these important nuggets from our gifted therapists .

Vince Nevins, PhD, LMFT
Vince Nevins, PhD, LMFT

Thanks, Ellyn, for these quotes…and for so many other memorable gems you’ve offered us over the year. I’m so grateful!
Vince

Marty Frankel
Marty Frankel

Dear Ellen: thank you so much for these comments and all of the topics and ideas you share so freely. I’m one of those therapists who only sees one or two couples a week. I do not take this lightly and learned a lot in the year I was part of your on line group class…and thank you for continuing your solid and helpful work. I look forward to your newsletter and go back to the materials from the class often.

Dr. Ellyn Bader
Dr. Ellyn Bader

Thank you! I’m glad you find these helpful-and Marty especially that you take your learning and competency seriously.

Meg Luce, LMFT
Meg Luce, LMFT

Thank you, Ellyn! Here is another favorite from your amazing husband, Dr. Peter Pearson, at the Couples Conference, “Never be the most motivated person in the room.”

Dr. Ellyn Bader

Dr. Ellyn Bader is Co-Founder & Director of The Couples Institute and creator of The Developmental Model of Couples Therapy. Ellyn is widely recognized as an expert in couples therapy, and since 2006 she has led innovative online training programs for therapists. Professionals from around the world connect with her through internet, conference calls and blog discussions to study couples therapy. Ellyn’s first book, "In Quest of the Mythical Mate," won the Clark Vincent Award by the California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists for its outstanding contribution to the field of marital therapy and is now in its 18th printing. She has been featured on over 50 radio and television programs including "The Today Show" and "CBS Early Morning News," and she has been quoted in many publications including "The New York Times," "The Oprah Magazine" and "Cosmopolitan."

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