63rd Annual Conference

Friday, February 24

Afternoon Workshops

2:45-6:00 P.M.

Workshop 55

Fairytale Themes: Living Symbols in Therapy Groups

Chair:         

Bernhard Kempler, Ph.D., ABPP, Private Practice, Atlanta, Georgia

The themes of traditional fairy tales imaginatively express the basic existential and developmental challenges of life.  They are often echoed in the conflicts and struggles brought into both individual and group psychotherapy.  Fairy tales are the "dreams of mankind" (Betelheim) and open a unique window for the therapeutic process.  Didactic and experiential.

Didactic-experiential-demonstration-sharing of work experiences

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Discuss an important dimension to therapy by being familiar with fairy tales themes.

2. Use fairy tales as a source of solutions to impasses.

3. Work with favorite fairy tales similarly to personal dreams.

4. Understand the dynamics of groups as fairy tale dramas.

5. Apply the role of the imagination in group process.

Course References:

1. Chinen, A. (1992). Once Upon a Midlife. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.

2. von Franz, M. (1975).  Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Zurich: Spring

Publications.

3. Franze, E. (1985). Fairy Tales in Psychotherapy. Toronto: Hogrefe & Huber.