The Therapeutic Action of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Pre-Conference Institute
The Self as Therapeutic Instrument

with Jill Savege Scharff, MD and David E. Scharff, MD

Thursday, March 21, 2013 | 8:45 am - 5:00 pm
at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA

• 8:15 am Registration
• 8:45 am Welcoming Remarks
• 12:30-1:45 pm Lunch (on your own)
• 5:00 pm Adjourn

This pre-conference will take a fresh look at two aspects of therapeutic action: living through resistance and using the self in countertransference. Resistance is viewed, as Freud noted, as the way into therapeutic action, not simply an obstacle. Countertransference is seen not as a resistance due to infantile conflict in the therapist, but as a necessary response to the transference from which understanding emerges from shared experience. The morning will be devoted to exploration of resistance to treatment, transference and therapist. Jill Scharff will present a video interview of a consultation interview for discussion of the patient's resistance, the countertransference experience of that resistance and the working through in the transference. David Scharff will present a child treatment of a resistant latency child who brought her resistance in the form of drawings, entered into the transference implications of that resistance and emerged with an enhanced working alliance. In the afternoon, we will present tact and timing in working with countertransference in therapeutic action with children and parents. We will show video excerpts from two sessions of a therapeutic consultation. Then we will discuss a therapy case presented by a participant, inviting those in attendance to join in an exploration of therapeutic action.

Upon completion, participants will be able to:

1. Identify levels of resistance in a clinical interview or treatment
2. Apply their understanding to specifying intervention strategies for interpreting the resistances at effective levels
3. Develop strategies for more effective therapeutic action based on formulations of object relations, transference patterns and emergent ideas about unconscious organization

6 CE/CME Credits
Program Code: TS13

Jill Savege Scharff, MD and David E. Scharff, MD, are Co-Founders of the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) based in the Washington metro area. Jill is former Director, International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training; David is Board Chair and former Director, IPI. Both are Supervising Analysts, International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training at IPI. They are authors and editors of more than 30 books, the most recent being "The Interpersonal Unconscious." Jill's forthcoming book is on the impact of technology on psychoanalytic treatment. David's next book (with Sverre Varvin) is titled "Psychoanalysis in China."

Reduced tuition for attending BOTH Therapeutic Action of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy conferences:

1. Pre-Conference Institute - "The Self as Therapeutic Instrument and
2. The Therapeutic Action of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Current Concepts of Cure

When registering for both conferences we suggest that you write down the appropriate discount code noted in red (below) so that you have it available during the checkout process.