In this seminar we will explore the fundamental role of imagination in the psychotherapy relationship, using Ferenczi’s concept of a “dialogue of unconsciouses” as a point of departure for the experience. We will deepen our grasp of unconscious dimensions of therapeutic relating, and our use of our imaginations in finding our way to the patient, through our engagement with difficult treatment moments.
Along with Dr. Bass, participants in the workshop may present material themselves or work with others’ clinical vignettes. They will gain experience using emotional responses to patients in order to identify and work through enactments, impasses, and other challenging countertransference obstacles at the heart of psychotherapy. Implications for how we make use of ourselves, the way we respond to our patients, and how this contributes to our therapeutic intentions and sense of “technique” will be explored.
We will focus on patients with whom we have felt especially emotionally affected, i.e., those who evoke intense, disturbing, or arousing reactions: patients we dream about at night or become preoccupied with by day; patients who make us anxious or to whom we respond with counter-resistance, such as fighting sleep, falling asleep, or becoming bored; patients who arouse us to anger, disgust, shame, or sexual or other body experiences.
Such experiences, often at the heart of enactments in psychotherapy, provide access to the ways in which the unconscious life of patient and therapist emerge and interact, creating special challenges and special opportunities for deepening and furthering the work.
Please come prepared to share some clinical moments and your imaginative musings on your work or that of others if possible.
This will focus on the psychotherapy field, although other fields may find the discussion of interest.
£40 members/£80.00 non-members.
A recording of the event will be made which you can purchase by signing onto the event, but please note, we are only able to issue CPD certificates for those who attend the actual workshop.
Ticket sales will end Saturday 22nd March at noon.
The Zoom Link will be sent out to all participants the day before the event.
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