Navigating the Psychic Depths: Beyond Technique in Psychotherapy

$315.00

Description

Educational Consultation Group

Navigating the Psychic Depths: Beyond Technique in Psychotherapy

Jim Fidelibus, PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Jungian Psychoanalyst

8 Bi-Weekly Fridays, Sept 10 – Dec 17, 2021 | 10:00-11:30am CDT/CST via Zoom | Convert Time Zone | Space is Limited

Navigating the depths of the human psyche is always a unique journey. For every individual we accompany, we find ourselves on a strange path in a foreign land without a map. There is no pre-determined outline and no standardized methodology as there are no duplicated journeys on the path toward individuation. So, when an individual seeks guidance from a therapist who works in-depth, the therapist can have no ready-made program but needs to discern the way forward innovatively, a step at a time. Rather than being handed a map like a tourist lost in a foreign land, the psychic guide needs to possess and know how to creatively apply the tools of psychic navigation.

Most contemporary approaches to psychotherapy would rather provide a map. At times self-described as “technology,” they attempt to manualize the psychotherapeutic task. BT, CT, CBT, RET, DBT, ACT are among approaches that offer structures and techniques that provide a framework for what otherwise would be a bewildering plunge into chaos. As will be shown, manualized approaches tend to produce results that are short-term. The consequent risk is that, after initially raising hopes, with a return of symptoms the patient’s condition becomes refractory, or treatment resistant, over time.

It is here where Carl Jung made a vitally important contribution. Known throughout his long career for promoting the use of dreams and active imagination as the tools of individuation, with the publication of The Psychology of the Transference in 1946, he put relationship itself at the center of his approach to the work. This broadened focus resulted from a penetrating study of alchemy over decades and the consequent production of several volumes which now constitute major portions of the Collected Works. In these, Jung does not provide a map as such, but an understanding of the means of navigating psychic depths intersubjectively.

The alchemical approach to the analytic relationship represents a co-mingling of elements between analyst and patient that is mutually transformative. In this subterranean landscape, however, finding one’s way can be a bewildering conundrum and not easily negotiated. Jung finds in alchemy, and particularly in the 1550 text of the Rosarium Philosophorum, a set of guiding images that allow the analytically trained therapist to find his or her bearings and recognize a path forward. In the process, the vessel of the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a channel of communication between consciousness and the unconscious. The recent research in attachment theory supports this dynamic. Over time, such an experience releases the innate healing powers of the human psyche that are independent of the formal analysis. Rather than the decay-of-benefits-over-time which is characteristic of manualized approaches, there is evidence that working in-depth produces an ongoing healing process that is self-generating, augmenting therapeutic gains beyond the termination of the formal therapeutic process.

Specialized Focus

The therapist-client relationship as the transformative element in depth psychotherapy.

Format & Schedule
This group will be conducted entirely by Zoom. The dates are September 10 & 24, October 8 & 22, November 5 & 19, December 3 & 17. We will meet for eight 90-minute sessions (10:00–11:30 am) on these Friday mornings.

Audio/Video
The group is interactive. Participants will be expected to share audio and video.

Participants
The workshop is limited to 12 licensed psychotherapists (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists).

Learning Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants will be able to:

1.  Define psychodynamic vs cognitive approaches to psychotherapy and understand their differential effects on long-term therapy outcome.

2. Describe Jung’s view of the transference as it compares and contrasts with Freudian and other selected schools of thought.

3. Describe the essence of the ten images of the Rosarium and how they potentially apply to discerning the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship.

4.  Describe the links between Jungian theory, insights from attachment theory and their own clinical work

Required Reading

• Mario Jacoby, The Analytic Encounter: Transference and Human Relationship

• Edward Edinger, The Mystery of Coniuntio: Alchemical Image of Individuation

• David Wallin, “The Preoccupied Patient: Making Room for a Mind of One’s Own” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 224–241)

• David Wallin, “The Dismissing Patient: From Isolation to Intimacy” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 211–223)

• David Wallin, “Healing the Wounds of Trauma” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 242–255)

(PDFs of the readings from Attachment in Psychotherapy will be made available, though I recommend purchasing it because each chapter is so valuable)

Course Outline

Sep 10 Introduction
Psychodynamic and cognitive paradigms distinguished
Review of the research
Overview – nuts & bolts of class participation
Introduction of readings
Sep 24 Foundations
Jung’s view of transference in contrast to Freud’s
Mirror, Idealizing and Delusional transferences
“I-Thou” -vs- “I-It”
Countertransference
Erotic transference
Reading: Mario Jacoby, The Analytic Encounter: Transference and Human Relationship
Oct 8 Elements
Introduction to the Rosarium
Overview of the Rosarium images
Analysis of selected images
Reading: Edward Edinger, The Mystery of Coniuntio: Alchemical Image of Individuation
Oct 22 Patterns
Moving Toward
a. Preoccupied Patterns
b. Seeking Pattern
Reading: David Wallin, “The Preoccupied Patient: Making Room for a Mind of One’s Own” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 224–241).
Nov 5 Patterns (Continued)
Dismissive Pattern: devaluation, idealization, control
a. Withdrawing Pattern
b. Antagonistic Pattern
Reading: David Wallin, “The Dismissing Patient: From Isolation to Intimacy” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 211–223).
Nov 19 Patterns (Continued)
Unstable Pattern: seeking, withdrawing, antagonism
a. Fear of attachment
b. Dissociation
c. Projective identification
Reading: David Wallin, “Healing the Wounds of Trauma” (Attachment in Psychotherapy, pp. 242–255).
Dec 3 Dynamics
Case presentation and consultation
Dec 17 Conclusions and Applications
Where is there some new insight that is impacting your conceptual approach to clinical work?  What new self-awareness is developing in terms of how you relate to yourself in the context of clinical work? Where do you perceive your growth-edge both as a clinician and personally?

LOCATION
This group will meet via Zoom
The Zoom link to attend will be emailed to registrants 2 hours before the first session

FEE
$300 | 12 CEs $15

There is no member or student discount for groups at this time

Registrants will need to sign a consent form, which will be emailed after registration


Bio

James Fidelibus has been a licensed Psychologist in Ohio since 1989, as well as a licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor in Ohio since 1979. Dr. Fidelibus has a PhD from Ohio State University, advanced training in couples therapy from the Gottman Institute and Ottawa Couple & Family Institute, as well as advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy from the Cleveland Institute for Cognitive Therapy, and in analytical psychology from the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Dr. Fidelibus has been published in many scholarly journals, including Behavioral Health Outcomes, Managed Care Strategies, and the 1998 Behavioral Outcomes & Guidelines Sourcebook.

Additional information

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CEs

Recording + CEs

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