Artificial Intimacy in Couples Therapy
The Latest Assessment Tools and Clinical Interventions for Addressing AI Use in Relationship Dynamics
- Speaker:
- Dr. Marianne Brandon
- Duration:
- Full Day
- Product Code:
- LWC150921
- Brochure Code:
- PWZ96318
- Media Type:
- Live Webinar - Also available: Digital Seminar
Description
- Assessment tools to know if AI use is helping or hurting the relationship
- Skills to work with AI-related relational issues to increase clarity and confidence
- Recognize attachment styles that are more at risk for problematic AI use
- Real cases showing when AI can improve or hurt relationships
If you work with couples, you’ve probably noticed this by now … They’re using AI to vent, figure out who’s “right” during conflict or even using it as a form of connection that blurs the lines of digital infidelity.
AI is reshaping couples’ dynamics fast – so what you learned even a few years ago may already be out of date.
That’s why we’ve partnered with Dr. Marianne Brandon, couples therapy expert and author of the books: Monogamy: The Untold Story and Unlocking the Sexy in Surrender.
In just one day, she will show you how to build practical, clinical skills to assess AI use within couple dynamics and intervene effectively when it creates relational strain.
Join this 6-hour training and walk away with:
- Assessment tools to determine whether AI hurts or helps the relationship
- Clinical interventions to address issues of artificial or digital infidelity in couples therapy
- The latest insights on which attachment styles are more at risk of maladaptive use of AI
- Real case examples showing both positive and negative use of AI in couples
The future of couples work isn’t coming – it’s already here.
Register today and become the therapist who meets it with skill and confidence.
Credit
Speaker
Dr. Marianne Brandon Related seminars and products
Dr. Marianne Brandon is a clinical psychologist and diplomate in sex therapy who has spent over two decades studying what people want from their intimate lives, and what happens when technology begins to compete for that space.
She writes the Psychology Today “The Future of Intimacy”, where she examines how AI, robotics, and digital connection are transforming human relationships, and co-hosts The Sex Doctors podcast with her husband, urologist Abraham Morgentaler, MD. She is the author of Monogamy: The Untold Story and Unlocking the Sexy in Surrender: Using the Neuroscience of Power to Recharge Your Sex Life, and co-author of Reclaiming Desire: 4 Keys to Finding Your Lost Libido. Her peer-reviewed research on sexuality and technology has appeared alongside her writing for general audiences, and her work has been cited in the New York Times, AARP, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, and other publications.
Dr. Brandon provides continuing education for mental health and medical professionals and writes and lectures regularly for academic, clinical, and general audiences. She is in private practice in Sarasota, FL. More at www.drbrandon.net.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Marianne Brandon maintains private practice, is a blogger with Psychology Today, and is a podcast host for The Sex Doctors. She receives royalties as a published author. Marianne Brandon receives a speaking honorarium from TZK Seminars, the Zur Institute, and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Marianne Brandon has no relevant non-financial relationships.
Additional Info
Access Period for Live WebcastYou will have access for 90 days after the program for review. For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. Please note that this requirement may vary by credit type. Please see detailed credit information for specific requirements for each credit type.
Webcast Schedule
Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.
Questions?
Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info
Objectives
- Describe the major ways chatbots and AI companions are being used for emotional, relational, and sexual purposes, and why these technologies are becoming clinically relevant in couple and sex therapy.
- Differentiate potentially adaptive versus problematic chatbot use by assessing whether AI functions as a bridge to greater human connection, or as a substitute for intimacy.
- Assess the impact of chatbot use on couple functioning, including secrecy, betrayal, emotional displacement, erotic boundary conflict and changes in communication and trust.
- Apply therapeutic interventions that are balanced, reality-based, and non-moralistic when helping couples negotiate chatbot-related conflict, establish boundaries, and strengthen direct communication and relational repair.
- Recognize clinical risks and special considerations associated with chatbot use in vulnerable populations, including autistic clients, those with avoidant attachment styles, and with psychosis-spectrum vulnerability.
- Formulate treatment plans and case conceptualization for couples affected by chatbot use.
Outline
Introduction of AI in relationship dynamics
- A clinical overview of what AI intimacy is and why it matters in modern couple therapy
- Understanding chatbots and its clinical impact on human relationships
- Exploring the emotional appeal of the use of AI in relational dynamics
- AI as a growing relational force clinicians must assess and address
Chatbots and the individual client
- AI companions and their impact on emotional attunement, and relational gratification
- Clinical tools to assess when AI can help or hurt your individual clients
- Identifying patterns of over-reliance, avoidance, or emotional displacement
- Clinical skills to recognize client characteristics that increase risk for problematic AI use
AI inside the couple system
- Common points of tension that arise when AI enters the couple dynamic
- How partners most often use AI within emotional, relational, and sexual contexts
- Assessing whether AI use strengthens or undermines trust, intimacy, and communication
- Clinical interventions that help couples evaluate AI’s impact on their connection and repair ruptures
Assessment and intervention in AI-related couple conflict
- Key clinical questions to guide assessment when couples are using AI in relationships
- Evaluating the impact of AI use on trust, intimacy, consent, and couple treatment needs
- Developing a therapist stance that is balanced, non moralistic, and grounded in curiosity
- Clinical interventions for re-centering human relational attunement in couples work
- Supporting couples in negotiating boundaries around AI use
Therapeutic challenges and vulnerable populations
- Clinical interventions for addressing betrayal in artificial intimacy in couple’s therapy
- Spotting and addressing clinical red flags when AI escalates conflict or distress
- Most common client characteristics and attachment styles related with maladaptive AI use
- Spotting and addressing clinical signs of AI-related psychosis
- Risk and limitations on research
Case integration and clinical framework
- Case-based integration on spotting and addressing maladaptive use of AI in avoidant attachment
- Clinical discernment skills for AI use in couples
- Understand the future of embodied AI, its ethical implications and potential impact on relationships
- Closing clinical reflections
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychotherapists
- Psychologists
- Addiction Counselors
- Therapists
- Art Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Physicians
- Relationship Coaches
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Reviews
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