Working with Transference from a Relational Psychodynamic Perspective

Live Interactive Webinar

Instructor: Patricia Gianotti, Psy.D

Level: Intermediate

Date and Time: May 18 & 19, 2023 1 – 4:15 pm ET

CEs: 6 CEs

This is a multiple-day session. In order to receive CEs, you must attend both days.

Review CE accreditation and approvals for this course on the tab above

All unfinished business from the past is replicated in present-day relationships; all insecure childhood attachments inhibit the capacity for openness, curiosity and full-functioning. Using these two statements as anchoring points, this six-hour course will focus on increasing your comfort level and proficiency in working with transferential enactments as a means of repairing early attachment injuries.

Unconscious, unarticulated or disavowed material invariably becomes enacted in relationship to others, regardless of whether one believes in transference or has proficiency in using transference as a leverage for change. This course is designed to help clinicians recognize when transferential and counter-transferential enactments are beginning to surface within the therapeutic relationship as well as providing specific examples and techniques to bring the therapeutic relationship back into a state of co-regulation and/or repair.

Participants will become more proficient at recognizing transferential communication by listening for comments that convey:

• indirect expectations for rescue by the therapist

• fears of negative judgment or retaliation on the part of the therapist

• hidden feelings of disappointment on the part of the client

If these communications go unrecognized or unprocessed, this may result in a negative transferential enactment or a premature ending of the therapy. The structure of this course combines lecture with group discussion. Multiple case examples will be provided to illustrate how to use language to palpate transferential material as well as providing various ways the therapist can respond to difficult transferential sticking points. Participants will be shown how even minor disappointments can trigger feelings of shame, micro-dissociative ruptures and possible negative transferential responses. We will discuss and practice how to recognize and repair minor ruptures that occur throughout the treatment process, thus preserving and strengthening the therapeutic relationship.