Course Detail: PER358 - From Struggle to Harmony: Understanding the Unconscious in Relationships - NEW!
Unpacking Unconscious Connections
Why do we keep finding ourselves in the same kinds of conflicts - with partners, friends, colleagues, or family? Why do some relationships feel nourishing while others subtly erode our sense of self? This course invites you to look beneath the surface of your relational life to understand how deep-rooted emotional patterns - shaped by your temperament and early childhood experiences - may be influencing your current connections.
Drawing from object relations theory and mentalization-based approaches, we will explore how unconscious mechanisms like projective identification contribute to the co-creation of emotional patterns in our relationships. This is not a course about blaming anyone-including yourself-but rather about understanding the interplay between people that often goes unnoticed.
You'll learn:
- How our earliest relationships shape our expectations and emotional reactions
- How we unconsciously "bring out" certain behaviors in others-and vice versa
- The emotional and neurobiological underpinnings of conflict
- How to use mentalization to pause, reflect, and respond rather than react
- Practical ways to create space for healing, empathy, and joy and deep love in relationships
Designed for both lay people seeking personal insight and therapists seeking deeper ways to help their clients, this course offers a compassionate, common-sense, and emotionally intelligent path toward relational well-being.
No prior background in psychology is required - just curiosity, openness, and a desire to grow in how to make your relationships more fulfilling.
About the Instructor
Dr. Prevesh Rustagi is a psychiatrist in private practice and a clinical associate professor at the Fort Wayne campus of the Indiana University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry.
