We often believe that all people who ask help are suitable for psychotherapy. However, in many cases, the problems confronting the person cannot be resolved through therapy alone. How do we investigate the suitability of a prospective client for psychotherapy?
What other resources should we look for to help this client? Are we the right person to help the specific client? What are the common mistakes made by therapists as they endeavour to help people?
In our life we often encounter difficulties and disappointments. Our goals and desires get blocked by the circumstances of our life or by our own passivity and procrastination. Despite our weariness, we keep watching endless repetitions of “ the same old movie”.
Who is the dragon we need to confront? Who is the evil witch who keeps us enslaved? What stops us from realizing our desires? In this workshop we will use the wisdom of folktales and psychoanalytic theories to trace the basic motifs in our life.
Most psychotherapy models assume that the client has an inner world, a self and the ability to relate- regardless of how inadequate or blocked those may be.
However, clinical experience has shown that we should not assume these attributes. Particularly borderline, psychotically and psychosomatically organized clients manifest many problems in the area of mentalization and symbolization.
In this workshop we will focus on the work of Peter Fonagy and other attachment theorists to study the mentalization process which takes place during infantile life and leads to the formation of their inner world. We will also discuss clinical interventions to use with adult clients with inadequate mentalization skills, which may help them develop further those skills and deepen their inner world.
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.
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.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we occasionally fail our clients. We either get into a rut or the client, under the pretext of lack of money or time, leaves therapy prematurely.
In this workshop, we will examine the conditions indicating early in therapy that things may falter later on. Then we will see in actual clinical cases the impact of certain issues that are common in almost every treatment:
Self disclosure of the therapist
Client’s idealization of the therapist
The masochism of the therapist
Participants are welcome to bring their own cases for discussion.
Intuition is an invaluable asset for a clinician. Coupled with empathy, intuition helps the therapist to sense accurately the nonverbal messages of the client and to respond sensitively and appropriately to these cues.
The aim of this workshop is to help participants understand and nurture their clinical intuition through the study of symbols, keeping a personal journal, using painting and guided imagery techniques.
