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New Advances in Deconstructing Relationships

Jul. 26, 2025

10:00 AM - 1:15 PM (EST)

Virtual Event
3 CE Credits
This training is grounded in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, which identifies a “core fear” that drives our conflicts and resistance in relationships. This fear shapes our perceptions of others, leading to misguided assumptions. By recognizing these dynamics, we can find better ways to express our feelings and respond to others.
This training builds on the concept, as demonstrated by research in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (Burns, Gillihan, Beck), that there is a “core fear” driving our resistance and creating our conflicts. When applied to relationships, we see that this core fear is responsible for projecting how we view our partner (or others in a group we are relating to) to create false assumptions about them and how we do so with ourselves (Johnson, Park).We then react to the core fear with a “chief defense” (Davenloo), an automatic habit designed to get us the love (or fulfillment or success) that we seek with others but which inevitably backfires. In this sense, it is more precisely the chief defense that is responsible for our relational conflicts, even when we are confident the other has done something “wrong” (Fernanda).These premises lead to the realization that in any relationship, there are new alternatives for what we project and how we respond. Seeing this, we may choose those perceptions and responses that will bring understanding, empathy, and the opportunity for “flow” (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi). As such, relationships afford a unique opportunity for finding meaning (Costello) and the mindful discovery of how to negotiate life’s challenges more successfully (Kabat-Zinn, Roemer).
  • Psychologists
  • Social Workers
  • Therapists
  • Counselors
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Drug & Alcohol Counselors
Todd Pressman, PhD

Dr. Pressman is an international presenter, psychologist, and author. He is the founder and director of Logos Wellness Center and Pressman and Associates Life Counseling Center, which is dedicated to helping people design lives of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. His studies under some of the world’s leaders in the Consciousness movement, as well as the personal grooming he received from a father whose teachers were students of Sigmund Freud, prepared the way for the discovery of the holistic principles he espouses. His work with Olympic athletes and high-performing CEOs has further honed his understanding of the secrets of excellence and the path to fulfillment.

After this training, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the concepts of the core fear and chief defense.
  • Apply these concepts to discovering clients’ core fears and chief defenses.
  • Translate the dynamics of clients’ relationships in terms of their core fears and chief defenses.

10:00-10:05 am – Introduction

10:05-10:30 am – Laying out Deconstructing Anxiety theory

—Deconstructing Relationships builds on the foundation of the Deconstructing Anxiety (TM)  model

—The core fear: our ultimate interpretation of how life can be threatening

—The chief defense: our primary strategy for handling the core fear

—The master key to healing: “Doing the opposite of the chief defense”.

10:30-10:45 am- Exercise: Finding the core fear: Digging for Gold

10:45-11:00 am–Exercise: Finding the chief defense: Who Are You Really?

11:00-11:30 am- Seeing the core fear and chief defense at work in our relationships
—The source of relational conflict

—One or both people in the relationship trigger each others’ core fears.

—One or both people in the relationship respond with their chief defenses.

—This creates a no-win cycle of attack/defense and defense/attack.

—How to break the cycle: doing the opposite of the chief defense.

11:30-11:45 am – Break

11:45-12:15 pm – New Strategies for Resolving Relational Conflicts: Three ways of “doing the opposite” of the chief defense

12:15-12:45 pm – Exercise: The Deconstructing Relationships communication technique
—Doing the opposite by interrupting habitual verbal responses

—Evoking spontaneous empathy for the other’s core fear

—Feeling empathized with for your own core fear

12:45-1:05 pm – Exercise: The Warrior’s Stance in Relationships
—Doing the opposite by interrupting habitual behavioral responses

—Taking 100% responsibility for the conflict as an opportunity for personal fulfillment.

—Discovering endless new options for responding to the other from that fulfillment.

1:05-1:15 pm – Q&A

Intermediate to advanced.

Registration $65 | Jul. 26 | Virtual Event | 3 CE Credits | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm ET

Registration Deadline:  Jul. 26, 2025

Cancellation Policy

You may request to cancel your registration for a future credit up to 72 hours before the event’s date and time.  Cancellation requests made within 24 hours of the event date/time will not receive a transfer. When you register for an event, you agree to these terms.

A total of 3 CE credits are available.

Additional Approvals Pending.

ASWB ACE

Clinical Events, LLC, (provider # 2201) is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 11/01/2024 – 11/01/2025.

NBCC

Clinical Events, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved   Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7643 Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Clinical Events, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

NY State Board of Social Workers

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0828.

NY State Board of Mental Health Counselors

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0329.

NJ State Board of Social Workers & Professional Counselors

New Jersey Social Work Examiners Board accepts ASWB ACE Provider credits.  New Jersey Professional Counselors Board accepts NBCC-approved CE provider credits.

All Other States

All other states accept ASWB ACE Provider credits and NBCC-approved CE provider credits. Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their jurisdictions. States and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Canada

Most Canadian jurisdictions accept ASWB ACE-approved provider programs to meet licensure renewal requirements.  Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their province. Provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.