62nd Annual Conference

Friday, March 11
Morning Workshops
10:30 A.M. – 1:45 P.M.

Workshop 45
Therapeutic Ideals and Therapists Humanity: Secrets, Shame and Guilt

Chair:     

Esther G. Stone M.S.S.W., CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, San Francisco, CA

Open to participants with more than ten years of group psychotherapy experience

Therapists humanity is often in conflict with the “therapeutic ideal.” To protect ourselves from our own and others censure we hide those misdemeanors that induce shame and guilt. Following a theorectical overview, participants will be asked to share their experiences of  therapeutic enactments and "delinquencies," the awareness of their emotional state during such happenings, and consider the impact upon patient and group.

sharing of work experiences–didactic-demonstration-experiential

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Identify which therapist enactments (misdemeanors) are exploitive, harmful and or/shameful

2. Identify which enactments are therapist-induced and which are patient-induced

3. Identify those enactments which help facilitate the therapist's ability to be with the patient and those that are intersubjective reactions

References:

1.  Psychoanalytic Dialogues: A Journal of Relational Perspectives; Vol. 13, No.4 pp. 451-533

2.  Rutan and Stone; Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy; 3rd ed; The Guilford Press,20013. 

3.  Simon, R (1992) Treatment boundary violations: Clinical, ethical and legal considerations, Bulletin of Academy of Psychiatry Law, 20(3). 269-288