66th Annual Conference

Thursday, February 19

Morning Open Sessions

10:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M.

Session 303

Fear and Loathing in Group Therapy

Chair:       

Joseph Shay, Ph.D., CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Panelists:

Jerome Gans, M.D., CGP, FAGPA, DLFAPA, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Wellesley, Massachusetts

Lise Motherwell, Ph.D., Psy.D., FAGPA, Faculty, MGH, Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Brookline, Massachusetts

Group therapists faced with “difficult” patients or groups often feel unknowledgeable, unskilled, or unhinged.  Not uncommonly, therapists are momentarily paralyzed into inaction or propelled into enactment. Watching video clips and engaging in role play of these problematic situations, we hope to increase your ability to intervene in such situations, rather than simply survive them.

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Appreciate the complexity of the phrase “difficult” patients and groups

2. Identify indications and contraindications for treating difficult patients & groups

3. Recognize common countertransference reactions when in these situations

4. Identify techniques to intervene when such situations arise

Course References:

1. Gans, J.S., & Alonso, A. (1998). Difficult patients: Their construction in group psychotherapy  International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 48, 311-326.

2. Roth, B.E., Stone, W.N., & Kibel, H.D. (Eds.).(1991).  The difficult patient in group: Group psychotherapy with borderline and narcissistic disorders. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

3. Rutan, J.S., Stone, W.N., & Shay, J.J. (2007) Difficult groups and difficult patients. In J.S. Rutan, W.N. Stone, & Shay, J.J. Psychodynamic group psychotherapy, 4th ed (pp. 309-339). New York: Guilford Press.

4. Rutan, J.S.  Treating difficult patients in groups (2005).  In L. Motherwell & J. Shay (eds.), Complex dilemmas in group therapy: Pathways To resolution (pp. 41-49).  New York: Brunner-Routledge.