Course Description:

It has long been accepted that our becoming therapists is influenced by having served as emotional caregivers in our respective families of origin. Yet we have never taken up an in-depth exploration of how the inevitable feelings of guilt, shame, suppressed hostility, and loss, impact our work. Building on the work of Searles, Olinick, Jacobs, Stolorow & Atwood, Eagle, Sussman and others, this presentation presents the picture of not only the adult therapist’s overdetermined choice of vocation, but also a preference for passivity, an overemphasis on the client as an innocent and tortured child, and a preference for avoiding conflict. Having failed to “cure” our depressed mothers or other family members, do we retain rescue fantasies ultimately determined by our own need for redemption?

Because we were powerless as children and rewarded for being soothing and self-sacrificing, we bring the resultant traits into treatment without conscious awareness of where they originated. Therefore, we are not sufficiently able to examine the extent to which they are therapeutic. Having incorporated Winnicott’s notion of the “good enough mother,” have we extended his concept to the point of expecting perfection, unconditional acceptance, or even love? Has enactment become the preferred approach to tapping into the joint emotional experience, at least in part, because it allows us to be passive, rather than actively facilitating the treatment?

Course Link:
http://www.mcpp.online

CE Value (credits): 2
CE Type: Standard
This training will take place over several weeks
 

Michigan Council for
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Contact Information:
Rebecca Hatton, Psy.D
734-709-2183
rebecca.hatton1@gmail.com