This workshop is an introduction to the area of clinical health psychology and addresses issues encountered by psychologists working with an inpatient or outpatient medical population. It explicates the common problems encountered when we work with physically ill patients; it provides a framework to formulate diagnosis and intervention with the physically ill; it offers practical skills useful in the area of clinical health psychology.
Why do we fall ill? Why do we get the specific disease? This seminar will provide answers to these questions based on different theoretical perspectives: psychoanalysis (Franz Alexander, Francoise Dolto, Joyce McDougall) alternative medicine ( acupuncture and homeopathy) and contemporary research findings with patients.
The following diseases will be explored from a psychological perspective: coronary heart disease and hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, ulcerative colitis, ulcer migraine headaches and cancer.
The participants will also have the opportunity to explore experientially their personal symptoms.
In this seminar we will explore Malan’s model of short term psychodynamic therapy. We will discuss the selection criteria and the clinical problems which are more suitable for this type of intervention. Valuable qualities of this perspective include the careful diagnosis; focus on a single aim; and the intensive working through of client’s issues in the transference relationship.
Relaxation techniques are often used in cases of severe anxiety as well as in stress management and physical problems, i.e. headaches, hypertension, pain etc.
In this workshop participants experience 4 different methods of relaxation and receive instructions about the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Francoise Dolto, the well-known French psychoanalyst, has mapped the layers constituting our unconscious body during each developmental stage. Her work is a significant contribution to the puzzle of psychosomatic ailments in childhood or in adult life.
In this workshop we will investigate the legacy of the family to its offspring. Not only talents but also traumas, secrets and unresolved conflicts passed down from one generation to the next.
These unresolved issues play a significant role in the formation of current family relations and the « destiny» of each individual family member.
Specifically we will examine:
Several clinical vignettes will be presented and you can bring your own cases for discussion.
We often need to deal with crises in our private office. Situations such as severe physical abuse,
self -destructive behaviors, suicidal ideation, or psychotic breakdown call for a different intervention than the usual « psychotherapeutic» approach.
In this workshop we will examine common examples of crisis intervention through case studies and role playing. You are welcome to bring your own cases for discussion.
