Stan Tatkin

Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, is a clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer of A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT[1]).  

Stanley Joseph Tatkin
Born	November 4, 1954 Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Education	Doctor of Clinical Psychology Masters of Clinical Psychology Marriage and Family Therapy
Alma mater	Antioch University, Los Angeles Ryokan College
Occupations	Psychogist Researcher Author Public Speaker Therapist
Notable work	Wired for Love, We Do
Spouse(s)	Tracey Boldeman-Tatkin, Ph.D.

PACT is a polytheoretical, non-linear approach to dyadic systems that integrates developmental neuroscience, arousal regulation, and attachment theory. Psychobiology centers on early attachment and its effect on the developing brain and autonomic nervous system.[1] PACT encourages partners to adopt secure-functioning principles of behavior apart from their actual attachment organization.[2]

Tatkin created the PACT Institute in 2010 with his wife, Tracey Boldemann-Tatkin, PhD, to train mental health professionals to think and work through a psychobiological lens in their clinical practice. Tatkin's work, based on a social-emotional capacity model, focuses on what partners can and cannot do to mitigate threat reactions during stressful interactive sequences. The clinician pays particular attention to each partner's moment-by-moment implicit and explicit behaviors, such as microexpressions, micromovements, and other non-verbal and verbal cues. Sessions are commonly video recorded, and portions may be played back to the couple for feedback and interpretation. Video recorded sessions may also be examined by the clinician for post-inquiry and research by means of digital frame analysis in order to study a couple's behavior more precisely. The goal of the PACT Institute is to help couples and individuals reduce interpersonal stress and threat consequences through secure-functioning principles of fairness, justice, sensitivity, collaboration, and cooperation. Through the PACT Institute, Tatkin has trained thousands of therapists to integrate PACT into clinical practice throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Norway, Turkey, Australia, and Spain.[1] He also co-leads Wired for Love Couple Retreats[3] with his wife, Tracey.  

Tatkin's clinical practice is in Calabasas, California. He teaches and supervises family medicine residents at Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, California, and is an associate clinical professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine.  

Tatkin is known for integrating various theories and models to form the foundation of the comprehensive principles and methodologies he teaches. As a result, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, California, honored Tatkin with the Educator of the Year award 2014.[4]

Tatkin is on the board of directors of Lifespan Learning Institute and serves as a member on the Relationships First Advisory Board, a nonprofit organization founded by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt.[5]