APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited. In ""Relational-Cultural Therapy Over Time"", Dr. Judith V. Jordan shows how this approach works and how it deepens the therapeutic relationship and the client's relationships outside of therapy. Relational - cultural therapy works on connection and disconnection in a client's life. A person's past relationships create positive and negative expectations, or relational images, that in turn influence present and future relationships. Negative relational images often cause disconnection between people, so the relational - cultural therapist seeks to decrease the effect of these negative images and help the client to become more connected with others. Over the course of these sessions, Dr. Jordan works with a 53-year-old divorced woman who is experiencing significant depression and anxiety. The client doubts her judgment after a painful betrayal in her marriage, and a series of job losses has deepened her depression. Dr. Jordan helps her explore the sources of her isolation and examine relational images that leave her feeling she cannot really be authentic or safe in relationships. Childhood trauma is also touched upon in an effort to help the client to make sense of her profound fear and need to protect herself from vulnerability in relationships.
