Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, is an author, therapist, researcher and developer of the PACT Institute.
He has a clinical practice in Calabasas, CA, where he specializes in working with couples and individuals who wish to be in relationships. He and his wife, Tracey Boldemann-Tatkin, PhD, developed A Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy® (PACT) and the PACT Institute for the purpose of training other psychotherapists to use this method in their clinical practices.
In addition, Dr. Tatkin teaches and supervises first- through third-year family medicine residents at Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, CA, and is an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine. He is on the board of directors of Lifespan Learning Institute and serves as a core member of Relationships First, a nonprofit organization founded by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt.
Books by Dr. Tatkin include: Love and War in Intimate Relationships, Your Brain on Love, Wired for Love, Wired for Dating, Relationship Rx, We Do, and In Each Other's Care: A Guide to the Most Common Relationship Conflicts and How to Work Through Them.
Dr. Tatkin received his early training in developmental object relations (Masterson Institute), Gestalt, psychodrama, and family systems theory. In his private practice, he specialized for some time in treating adolescents and adults with personality disorders. More recently, his interests turned to psycho-neurobiological theories of human relationship, and to integrating principles of early mother-infant attachment with principles of adult romantic relationships.
Dr. Tatkin was a primary inpatient group therapist at the John Bradshaw Center where, among other things, he taught mindfulness to patients and staff. He was trained in Vipassana meditation by Shinzen Young, PhD, and was an experienced facilitator in Vipassana. He was also trained by David Reynolds, PhD in two Japanese forms of psychotherapy, Morita and Naikan.
Dr. Tatkin was clinical director of Charter Hospital’s intensive outpatient drug and alcohol program, and is a former president of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Ventura County chapter. He is a veteran member of Allan N. Schore’s study group. He also trained in the Adult Attachment Interview through Mary Main and Erik Hesse’s program out of UC Berkeley.
