Seminar Overview

Even among seasoned clinicians, sexuality remains one of the most complex, avoided, and misunderstood dimensions of therapeutic work. This groundbreaking seminar goes beyond the mechanics of sex or the psychology of desire — it explores the layers of intimacy as pathways to vitality, authenticity, and healing.

 Through psychoanalytic depth, neuroscientific insight, and embodied reflection, participants will engage with the conscious, pre-conscious, unconscious, and existential dimensions of sexual and relational life. This is not just about treating dysfunction — it’s about liberating the life force of Eros as a clinical and human truth.

Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Time: 12-2pm (EST)

Duration: 2 Hours

CEUs: 2

Format: Experiential • Conceptual • Reflective

Audience: Advanced Clinicians — Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Therapists, and Clinical Leaders

Learning Objectives

By the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:

1.  Differentiate between sexual behavior, sexual intimacy, and erotic communication across four dimensions: physical, emotional, cognitive, and existential.

2.  Identify and interpret key defense mechanisms that interfere with sexual and relational authenticity, including rationalization, projection, and sublimation.

3.  Analyze and work through unconscious patterns of power, shame, and desire as they emerge in the transference-countertransference field.

4.  Facilitate healing by integrating trauma-informed and somatically attuned approaches to intimacy and sexuality. 

5.  Apply an existential and spiritual framework to reframe sexuality as a sacred, integrative, and transformative force in clinical practice.

Signature Insight

“Clinicians often ask about sex as though they’re collecting data.”

Instructor

Mardoche Sidor, MD — Quadruple Board-Certified Psychiatrist, Founder of the SWEET Institute, Medical Director of Urban Pathways, and academic at Columbia University.

 Karen Dubin, PhD, LCSW — Clinical Leader, Co-founder of the SWEET Institute, and Editorial Director at SWEET Institute Publishing.