Couple Space: The Look of Love

Presented by Julie Friend

2 CEUs
Dates: October 9* 2026
Time: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST
Fee: $225

Abstract

Love is a topic of limitless complexity, exceeding and eluding clear definition in language. These qualities perhaps partially explain love’s rather spare mention in the literature on psychoanalytic couple psychotherapy until recently.  Through a reading and discussion of “Does love matter in the consulting room?” we will consider love as a foundational element of the psychoanalytic endeavor, both in relation to our analytic function, and as a potentially creative and vitalizing aspect of couple relating.  The importance of love as an element of our analytic function is explored.

Offering an expansion of the principally post-Kleinian context characteristic of much of the literature regarding analytic work with couples, this class invites a wider view through a consideration of experiences of love in relation to Winnicott’s thinking about creativity and transitional experience, and to Bollas’ ideas about transitional experience.  Along with the importance of helping couples tolerate ambivalence and the reality that one person can never completely know another, including Winnicott’s thinking aids in considering the importance of recognizing that love can evoke moments of confluence between reality and imagination, supporting the possibility of a creative experience of idiomatic aliveness. 

Learning Objectives

• Describe two ways love is a significant element in our analytic function.

• Describe the relevance of Winnicott’s ideas about transitional experience in thinking about love in couple relationships.

• Describe the utility of Bollas’ conception transitional experience can be a useful frame for thinking about love in couple relationships