Distance Learning program to address important foundational psychodynamic concepts and techniques in individual psychotherapy.
REGISTER for Spring 2023 – There’s Always Something: Clinical Challenges and Dilemmas
General Overview
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective form of treatment, as shown in numerous studies involving thousands of patients. However, many clinicians have had little exposure to it in their post-graduate training.
This course is an eight-session seminar held by online video conference. The seminar meets on Friday mornings from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. US Eastern Time. The first hour is a lecture/discussion seminar designed around assigned readings. The second hour is a discussion of a case presentation and the application of the theory, technique, and research findings that apply to the patient.
The seminar meets over the internet as a live class using a secure Zoom videoconference platform that can be used on any device: computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
This videoconference rotates through 4 Modules (1 per semester) on a cyclical basis. Participants can join at the beginning of any module.
Spring 2023 – There’s Always Something: Clinical Challenges and Dilemmas
Fall 2023 – The Therapeutic Frame
Spring 2024 – Generating Psychic Structure
Fall 2024 – A Thorn in the Flesh Trauma
For descriptions of each module visit the main Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program page.
Spring 2023: There’s Always Something: Clinical Challenges and Dilemmas
(Module IV of the IPI Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program)
No matter our level of training or the number of years of our experience, there is always something! There is always a challenge or a dilemma to perplex, bedevil, and keep us awake at night and off balance during the day. In this semester we will address the challenges that culture, time, love, hate, fear, clinical failure, technology, passion, loneliness, and endings present in the clinical situation. We will develop an understanding of such challenges at both the feeling level and the thinking level, for both the therapist and the patient. We will also discuss the empirical research that supports successful interventions.
You may enroll in this course even if you have never participated in a Psychodynamic Psychotherapy videoconference.
Program Chair
Stephen Morris, PhD
Program Date(s):
January 13, 2023 - May 12, 2023Spring 2023 Course Schedule
9-11am on Fridays (US ET)
Educational Objectives
Spring 2023 – There’s Always Something: Clinical Challenges and Dilemmas
Participants will be able to:
- Discuss 2 ways in which countertransference is utilized to identify implicit racial bias and focus on the reparative potential of guilt
- Describe 2 ways in which 19th and 20th century theories of sexual orientation and views of appropriate treatment were pathologizing to LBGQ people
- Explain 3 reasons for considering the developmental influences of familial, socio-cultural, and political factors when working with patients from different racial backgrounds
- Identify 2 reasons why it is necessary to hold ambiguity and uncertainty in mind, and to maintain an ethical stance of not-knowing, when listening to patients with gender identity concerns.
- Identify 2 ways narcissistic defenses function to sabotage the development of the self.
- Define the concept of non-interactive interactions and describe 2 therapeutic tools for working with these types of defenses.
- Describe 2 defining features of shame and guilt and the distinctions between them.
- Define the concept of a paradoxical communication and give 1 example.
- List three different ways through which a patient can exhibit a Negative Therapeutic Reaction in a course of treatment.
- Explain the interpersonal origins of two different countertransference responses a therapist may have when working with a patient exhibiting a Negative Therapeutic Reaction.
- Describe one primary characteristic and one primary cause of the development of a bastion in the therapeutic relationship.
- Describe 2 potential differences in the experience of short-term and long-term therapy for therapists and patients.
- Give at least 2 examples of a symptomatic and dynamic focus in brief therapy.
- Define and differentiate time-near experience and time-far experience.
- Describe two elements of a contingency plan to handle technology failures, emergencies or risks in the practice of teletherapy.
- Give one example of analyzing unconscious communication projected onto the technology-mediated setting.
- Describe fully one defensive and one affective-expressive use of a displacement object shown on screen in online treatment.
- Explain what is meant by “the double separation process.”
- Explain the difference between incorporation and introjection.
- Describe a countertransference “in the body” that you have clinically experienced.
- Name one rule for deciding whether a self-disclosure is appropriate.
- Provide one example of a therapist self-disclosure and explain how it might change the balance between the transference relationship, the real relationship, and the therapeutic alliance.
- Describe one way a therapist can prevent his or her emotional needs from leading to inappropriate self-disclosure.
- Provide one example of how the therapist’s definition of the therapeutic endeavor is central in assessing readiness for termination.
- Describe how the concepts of mourning, introjection, internalization, and transformation help the therapist assess readiness for termination.
- Identify two instances of countertransference or personal challenges that the therapist must recognize to move the therapeutic dyad towards a termination point in treatment.
Continuing Education Credit Hours
The eight-session seminar provides 16 hours CE credit.
Attendance Policy
The IPI is an APA-approved provider (sponsor) of continuing education (CE) credit that specifies standards by which CE credits can be awarded for learning activities. The APA only awards CE credit for actual instructional time, and variable credit for partial attendance may not be awarded. IPI expects 100% attendance for a student to receive CE credit. A student enrolled in the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program (PPP) would not receive credit for a module or semester (a unit of instruction) unless the student were to attend all of the classes within that particular module or semester. Attendance records are maintained by the PPP faculty at each class. In the very rare instance when a student would have to miss a class, that student would be expected to complete a make-up assignment with specified learning objectives, as part of IPI’s adherence to APA standards for awarding credit.
Registration
Register for Spring 2023 videoconference only: There’s Always Something: Clinical Challenges and Dilemmas
Registration will close Jan 12, 2023.
Tuition and Fees
Registration fee is $440.
Discounted registration for Full and Associate IPI Members $375.
Limited scholarship funds are available for this training: https://theipi.org/scholarships/
Application
To apply for the full Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program, choose one of the following:
Academic Track Certificate Program Application
Clinical Track Certificate Program Application
Applications for the Academic Certificate or Clinical Certificate Program are now being accepted for Fall 2022 – Deadline to apply, Dec 1, 2022.
Should you have any questions about the program or the application process, please feel free to contact:
Stephen Morris - ppp@theipi.org
Membership Benefits
Become a member of IPI at the “Associate Member PLUS”, or “Full Member PLUS” level and you will receive an IPI Zoom Pro account as one of your member benefits. Associate and Full Members also receive discounted registration fees for most of IPI’s events, a subscription to PEP Web, the online psychoanalytic library, and other benefits depending on membership level.
HIPAA compliant Zoom video accounts are provided for all IPI Associate Member Plus and Full Member Plus memberships. IPI has a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement with Zoom, which provides a HIPAA compliant platform for our accounts. HIPPA compliance is strongly recommended for all internet-mediated clinical work and clinical teaching. The “PLUS” add-on to the IPI membership gives the user the ability to host online meetings with multiple people at the same time. [Current members can upgrade to the “Plus” account and only pay the difference in price from your current membership level.]
Click for IPI Membership and Zoom Account information
Continuing Education Information
The International Psychotherapy Institute, IPI, is approved by The American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. IPI maintains responsibility for the program and its content. The International Psychotherapy Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6017. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The International Psychotherapy Institute is responsible for all aspects of the programs. The International Psychotherapy Institute is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland to sponsor social work continuing education learning activities and maintains full responsibility for this program. This training qualifies for Category I continuing education units. The International Psychotherapy Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0299.
Participants are responsible for verifying that IPI CE credit is accepted by the licensing boards in their own states.