Welcome!

A long-time practitioner of insight meditation (known as “vipassana” in the Buddhist tradition), James Tobin, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist by training, has found in his study of Buddhism and the “Dharma” a range of significant ideas regarding psychological and spiritual identity that have considerable applicability to contemporary love relationships.

Buddhist concepts such as attachment, the conditioned mind, impermanence, “anata” (emptiness; no self), discernment, and liberation constitute components of a vast ideology that offers a direct commentary on the many issues and dilemmas often responsible for suffering in adult romantic love. For Dr. Tobin, these concepts may be seen as both intersecting with, and departing from, various psychological perspectives of the West typically used to understand erotic love and emotional intimacy. An evaluation of the overlap and distinction of these paradigms inspires an important dialogue with considerable pragmatic applications.

This meetup.com group is devised to appeal to a wide audience and does not assume any knowledge or endorsement of Buddhist principles. The goal, instead, is to see what may be taken from Buddhist ideology and applied to a consideration of how we get “stuck” in love relationships and how we may be freed.

This meetup.com group will consist largely of free tele-seminars facilitated by Dr. Tobin in which he will offer a series of reflections about the application of Buddhist concepts to issues relevant to contemporary love relationships. In addition, Dr. Tobin will at times host group meetings at his office in Newport Beach, California.

About James Tobin, Ph.D.:
Dr. Tobin is a licensed psychologist who specializes in working with individuals and couples on romantic relationship struggles. He emphasizes the role of the parent-child relationship in identity formation, character development, and the quality of relationships across the lifespan, leading to a clinical orientation focusing on the relational processes underlying diverse forms of distress and psychiatric conditions. He frequently delivers presentations, workshops, tele-classes, and webinars to a range of audiences on issues concerning identity, interpersonal influence and coercion, and Buddhist psychology.

Dr. Tobin received an A.B. magna cum laude in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is a former advanced candidate in psychoanalysis at the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, East, and former Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Currently, Dr. Tobin is in private practice in Newport Beach, CA.

James Tobin, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist: PSY 22074
220 Newport Center Drive, Suite 1
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Phone: 949-338-4388
Web: www.TheChangingLife.com
Email: JamesTobin@TheChangingLife.com

Disclaimer:
This meetup.com group and its contents are meant solely to provide information to participants in a didactic forum and in no way constitutes psychotherapy. For more advanced help with specific personal issues and relationship concerns, please consult Dr. Tobin for referral to a licensed mental health clinician.