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When Therapy Gets Stuck: Session Two
In this five-part series we explore why, with some clients, the therapy ‘gets stuck’.
A therapeutic impasse can lead to self-doubt among therapists, as well as concerns that the client may terminate the therapy prematurely. We aim to demonstrate that these challenging moments can offer great insights for both client and therapist, if they can be worked through.
More recently impasses, collisions, and collusions have been acknowledged as inherent and valuable aspects of clinical practice. This means that the experience of getting stuck or encountering a therapeutic impasse can actually help the therapist to understand more about the client's inner world and potentially shed light on how the histories of both the client and therapist are interacting unconsciously. Identifying, naming, and making sense of these clinical impasses can serve as a way forwards
Our speakers cover themes including the recognising unconscious dynamics between therapist and patient which maintain a stasis in the therapy, the impact of intergenerational transmissions on progress, the phenomenon of "othering" within the context of relational psychoanalysis and racialized enactments, and the delicate art of being affected by the therapeutic process without becoming overwhelmed by it.
The primary objective for this series is to support therapists' capacity to navigate and work through these challenging phases. By participating in this series, therapists can gain the confidence and skills necessary to effectively address moments when they and their clients find themselves in the challenging position of feeling "stuck."
Although the patient you will be introduced to in this session entered treatment in his later years, he was still very much searching for the boy he had not yet been while on his way to becoming a man. It was only recently that he came to accept a truth he had been running from for years. Banished by parents and society, sexuality had been forced underground for most of his life. Consequently, today’s tale is one of loss and painful longing. The analyst’s tendencies to Other in this treatment will be tracked as both an impediment to and component of the therapeutic action.
Zack will discuss the presentation with the speaker and draw out some themes for exploration inspiring the group discussion.
Dr Zack Eleftheriadou MSc MA, Dip NCFED, Dip Psychopathology, is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Chartered Scientist, Supervisor and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (HCPC reg). She has over 30 years of experience as an adult, child and parent-infant psychoanalytic psychotherapist (CPJA/UKCP). She lectures in the following areas: developmental issues, trauma, the ‘replacement child’ and cross-cultural work and refugees. She has published widely, including the text ‘Psychotherapy and Culture’. She is a guest lecturer and a member of The Bowlby Centre and is a visiting external examiner for Doctoral projects across the UK. She runs the consultancy service ‘Noema’, providing psychotherapy and supervision. She feels passionate about early intervention and alongside her clinical work, she presents on the psychology of the baby, for midwives and paediatric nurses. She has previously worked in several London NHS Hospitals and Charities, such as NAFSIYAT and Freedom from Torture.
Dr. Steven Kuchuck is Senior Consulting Editor (formerly Editor-in-Chief) of the journal Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Former Co-Editor; Routledge Relational Perspectives Book Series, Immediate Past President of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP), faculty, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and supervisor/faculty, at the NIP National Training Program, Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center and other institutes. Dr. Kuchuck lectures nationally and internationally, primarily on the clinical impact of the therapist’s subjectivity. His recent book, The Relational Revolution in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, was published by Karnac Books (2021) and is being translated into multiple languages. In 2015 and 2016, he won the Gradiva Award for best psychoanalytic book for Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience: When the Personal Becomes Professional and The Legacy of Sandor Ferenczi: From Ghost to Ancestor (co-edited with Adrienne Harris). His newest book, co-edited with Linda Hopkins, is Diary of a Psychoanalyst: The Work Books of Masud Khan (Karnac, 2022). His clinical and supervisory practice is in Manhattan and his study groups are conducted virtually.
Standard Registration: £45
Trainee, NHS staff and Third Sector: £38.25
Group Rates (for 4 or more): Contact [email protected] for customised pricing.
Trainee discount: To qualify for this offer you need to be taking a course which provides core practitioner training in counselling or psychotherapy that is at least 1 year full time or two years part time and recognised by the BACP or UKCP. TR Together reserve the right to ask to see evidence of training being undertaken.
Alumni: If you are a TR Alumni (TRAPC member) please email [email protected] for a discount code to add at checkout
Your CPD Certificate will be available to download from your TR Together account within 48 hours of purchase.