The Desire Curve::

Nan Wise,LCSW, ACSW, BCD

Creator of The Desire Curve

A simple and elegant tool for understanding desire and learning how to manage sexual and emotional systems.

Licensed psychotherapist

With practices in Greenwich Village, Manhattan and West Orange, Nan Wise has 25 years experience in individual, group, marital and family therapy.

She is:

A Fellow of the American Psychotherapy Association,
Certified Relationship Specialist
Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work

In addition to her practice with mainstream couples and singles, Ms. Wise has spent the past decade providing relationship coaching and psychotherapy for individuals and couples practicing alternative lifestyles. More open, tolerant and accepting than most therapists, she says: "My primary goal in therapy and coaching is to get people to recognize and challenge their assumptions and then make choices that empower them and create good outcomes for themselves and in their relationships."

She observed that some of her non-monogamous clients were able to handle the ebb and flow of desire in their relationships as well as jealousy issues. What she learned from them helped her create the Desire Curve.

Ms. Wise has been trained in numerous therapeutic modalities including:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Gestalt Psychotherapy
Eriksonian Hypnotherapy
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)

Additionally, she was trained in meditation and behavioral medicine at Harvard Medical School's Mind/Body Institute, is a yoga teacher and certified Radical Honesty trainer.

Her therapeutic approach blends these modalities, disciplines and skills to create a dynamic and unique way of helping clients learn Operational Intelligence, a phrase she coined to describe learning how to operate emotional sexual systems.

"It is a big step beyond emotional intelligence," she says.

Neuroscience co-investigator

Her first post-graduate work at Rutgers University was in the field of neuroscience which she says is her "first love." While earning an M.S.W. in Social Work, she continued to read and study independently in neuroscience, a discipline which heavily influences her work, especially the creation of the Desire Curve. Then in 2007 she was invited by Dr. Barry Komisaruk and Dr. Beverly Whipple (co-authors of The Science of Orgasm) to be a co-investigator on their prestigious fMRI brain scan studies on orgasm and pain.

"My goal now is to pursue neuroscience studies and research more actively," she says. "I feel like I have come to the place I want to be where I can use what I am learning in neuroscience to help clients, students, the people who take my workshops—and readers of my book."

Teacher, speaker and workshop leader

Ms. Wise is currently teaching a graduate course in Clinical Sexology for marriage and family therapists at Seton Hall University where she is an adjunct professor.
A member of AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists), she conducted two workshops at the annual conference in 2006. (Presenters at AASECT conferences are leaders in their field; and attendance at the workshops count as credit toward certification.) Her workshops: Polyamory and Other Forms of Negotiated Non-Monogamy: A Crash Course for the Curious and Beyond Monogamy: Varieties of Loving and Committing. At the 2008 conference she will present a workshop on Operational Intelligence.
In part as the author of a series of articles on relationship healing for Loving More Magazine, Nan Wise was propelled into speaking engagements as a nationally recognized expert on new paradigm relationships. She is a frequent presenter, keynote speaker and workshop leader at Loving More Conferences, The Institute for Twenty First Century Relationships, The Midwest Alternative Polyamory Conference, among others.
She is currently developing her own workshops on the Desire Curve and Operational Intelligence with several New York City venues booked for fall 2007.

Media Appearances, the Highlights

An episode of The Tyra Banks Show that aired initially on October 9, 2006.
An episode of The Montel Williams Show devoted to polyamory. November, 2005.
"Family Values," an episode of Penn & Teller's Emmy-nominated Showtime series, Bullshit! May, 2005.
Loving & Cheating, a Sugar Pictures documentary by Thom Powers (Breasts; Private Dicks: Men Exposed). February, 2005.
"Beyond Monogamy," an episode of The Sex Files, the number-one-rated show on the Discovery Channel in Canada. Fall 2004
"Scenes from a (Group) Marriage," a 1999 feature story in Esquire magazine. The article ignited Hollywood's interest with offers from Michael Douglas and Cameron Crowe.
"Four in a Bed", an article appearing in Eve magazine, a U. K. publication for women, and reprinted in Australian Marie Claire, 2004.
Domestic and international radio interviews for programs including The Jay Thomas Show on Sirius Radio, The Maurice Boland Show on Radio Europe Mediterraneo, and the BBC's The World Today.
"Expert" quoted in The New York Post, The London Observer, The Chicago Sun-Times, and the Baltimore Sun, among other publications.
"Try My Life," the Style network's reality show in which she exchanged lives with her daughter Julia for a day.