The Connecticut Society For Psychoanalytic Psychology
presents
Virginia Goldner, PhD:
Romantic Bonds, Binds,
and Ruptures:
Couples on the Brink
Clinical Conference
Saturday, February 6, 2027
Conference Check-In: 10:45am
Main Conference: 11am-1pm
Held via Zoom
Click here to register!
Please be sure to log into your CSPP account before registering.
The Talk
Drawing on her influential article, Romantic Bonds, Binds, and Ruptures: Couples on the Brink, Virginia Goldner will explore the clinical challenges of treating couples caught in cycles of conflict, attachment injury, and relational impasse. Bridging psychoanalytic theory, feminist and queer theory, and systems theory, Goldner examines how intense emotional bonds can generate destructive enactments that threaten intimacy and mutual recognition. Through clinical material, she illustrates interventions that help therapists navigate escalating conflict, manage countertransference, and address underlying relational trauma. Participants will gain strategies for interrupting entrenched interactional patterns, facilitating emotional regulation, and creating opportunities for relational repair and therapeutic change.
Learning Objectives
As a result of this presentation, attendees will:
1. Identify at least two recurring relational enactments associated with attachment injury and escalating conflict in distressed couples, and describe corresponding clinical intervention targets.
2. Describe how to apply at least two relationally informed therapeutic interventions to interrupt destructive interactional cycles, reduce emotional escalation, and facilitate greater mutual recognition between partners.
3. Develop a clinical strategy for identifying and managing therapist countertransference during high-conflict couple sessions in order to maintain therapeutic engagement and support opportunities for relational repair.
Meet the Speaker
Dr. Virginia Goldner is an internationally recognized psychoanalyst and couples therapist whose work bridges psychoanalytic theory, feminist and queer theory, and systems theory. She has received awards from the American Family Therapy Academy and Division 39 of the American Psychological Association. She is a Clinical Professor at NYU's Post-doctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, faculty at the Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies, a supervisor at CUNY, and Emeritus Faculty at the Ackerman Institute of the Family. She teaches and supervises internationally, maintains a private practice, and serves as on-camera consultant to Orna Guralnik on Showtime's Couples Therapy. Founding Editor of Studies in Gender and Sexuality and Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, she has authored more than 50 articles and book chapters.
Recommended Readings
Fonagy, P., Luyten, P., Allison, E., & Campbell, C. (2019). Mentalizing, epistemic trust and the phenomenology of psychotherapy. Psychopathology, 52(2), 94-103. https://doi.org/10.1159/000501526
Goldner, V. (2014). Romantic bonds, binds, and ruptures: Couples on the brink. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 24(4), 402-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2014.932209
Goldner, V., Levine, L., & Hartman, S. (2025). Après coup of "Romantic bonds, binds, and ruptures: Couples on the brink." Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 3592), 157-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2025.2470061
Sherlow-Levin, A., Shahar, B., Goldman, R., & Bar-Kalifa, E. (2024). Applying the Rupture Resolution Rating System to emotion-focused couple therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 50(4), 801-820. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12723
Participants
The conference is appropriate for professionals interested in the practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The instructional level of this conference is intermediate.
Continuing Education Credits
If continuing education credit is desired, please mark the appropriate box on the registration page, for our records. If continuing education credit is approved, 100% attendance and completion of the program evaluation will be required to receive continuing education credit.
No partial credit is available; you must be present for the duration of the program. There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for programs or instructors. AI was utilized to assist in the formatting of promotional materials.
The Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (SPPP) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SPPP maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
To Register and Pay
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Refunds will be given in full until the Monday before the conference. To receive a refund, cancel your registration online by going to your profile in the upper right corner, select "My Event Registrations" click on the event, then click on "Cancel Reservation." Questions/problems, please contact the registrar, Monique St. Paul.
Scholarship registrants: If you need the registration code, please contact Lisa Patrick, LCSW-R.
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Please login to your profile, then click under your name at View Profile, to make any changes or additions, including changes of email addresses. If you have problems, please contact Kelly Butler.
CSPP Membership: Membership is open to all mental health professionals ($115 annual dues); early career (10 years or less since degree, $55 annual dues); retirees ($40 annual dues); and graduate students ($20 annual dues). For further information on CSPP membership, please click here.
Accessibility and Accommodations
If you require an accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Cheryl Cummin in advance so that we can make reasonable efforts to accommodate your needs.
Diversity and Non-Discrimination
CSPP is committed to diversity and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. Please see the Diversity Statement from CSPP’s Committee for Equity and Diversity Education and Action (CEDEA).
Registration
For registration questions, please contact Monique St. Paul.
Concerns or Complaints
Please contact Cheryl Cummin, Assistant Clinical Conference Committee Chair, regarding CSPP’s CE complaint process.
Program Questions
For questions about the program or its content, please contact Amanda Michael, PsyD, CGP, Clinical Conference Committee Chair.
