In this conference, Jonathan Entis, Diane Byster and Thomas Hesslow will showcase work on different aspects of managing resistance within the ISTDP model. Emphasis will be put on the following aspects of resistance work:

– The conscious therapeutic alliance. Keeping the work transparent and explicit.

– Therapeutic flexibility. Across the spectra from moderate resistance to severe fragility, very different attitudes, interventions and timings are needed.

– Types of resistance. Resistance against feelings/impulses, against emotional closeness, against will and superego resistance.

– Mapping of the resistance. Systematically exploring, clarifying and exhausting resistance.

– Handling fragility. Feeding the alliance, maintaining optimal pressure to defenses while regulating anxiety.

– Primitive defenses. Approaching splitting, projection and denial in a systematic way.

We think this will be two great days of learning for both newcomers to ISTDP as well as the advanced ISTDP clinician. On both days, the focus will be on watching videos from real cases and providing different perspectives on these. On Day one, Jonathan will present and Diane and Thomas will be the discussants. On Day two, Thomas will present a case in the morning, and in the afternoon Diane will present, while Jonathan will be present as a discussant for the entirety of the day.

The New England Center for ISTDP is pleased to announce a workshop on Understanding and Resolving Conflicts regarding Emotional Closeness in Davanloo’s Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). The workshop is on Monday, May 16th, from 10am-5:30pm EST.

One of the key innovations Dr. Davanloo made in the development of ISTDP is his discovery of a set of patient defenses designed to ward off intimacy with the therapist. He called this defensive system ‘resistance against emotional closeness’ (RAEC). As RAEC prevents the patient from meaningfully engaging in the therapeutic endeavor, an understanding of this resistance coupled with the knowledge of how to manage it is essential to our work.

In this 1-day webinar, Patricia Coughlin, PhD, and Jonathan Entis, PhD, will review the concept of RAEC and the factors involved in its origin and maintenance. They will demonstrate how to assess whether the RAEC is part of a larger character resistance or a resistance to feelings in the transference.

Drs. Coughlin and Entis will use didactic and audiovisual presentations of actual therapy sessions to demonstrate how to work effectively with this resistance while strengthening the conscious and unconscious therapeutic alliance.

This training is a continuation in a yearly series on working with syntonic defenses with a strong focus on defiance. Keynote addresses and clinical vignettes will be shown. The cases to be presented will be different than those shown last year.

Syntonic defenses present unique challenges. These resistances are invisible to patients and at times the therapist. Failure to recognize and work through syntonicity can result in confusion, misalliance, and lack of integration of the fundamental principles of the therapeutic endeavor. A full understanding of how syntonic defenses operate and how to approach them therapeutically is a requisite for mastery of Davanloo’s ISTDP.

In this webinar, we will cover key tenets of how to identify syntonic defenses and how to work with them. We will place a particular focus on the hidden defense of defiance and the 3-stage process for de-activating, clarifying and then challenging it.

Syntonic defenses, including defiance, are prevalent in nearly all patients with early developmental trauma, and are often at the root of therapeutic impasse. This training aims to equip participants with the tools to better recognize these phenomena and effectively address them.

In addition to didactics, ample time will be given to audiovisual demonstration of real cases.

These groups are intended as ongoing training programs and group supervision in Davanloo’s ISTDP for licensed mental health clinicians who have already completed, or are currently in, core training in ISTDP. The groups will be capped at 6-8 members. During the first meeting, Dr. Entis will devote time to didactics and showing video presentations to illustrate concepts and techniques in Davanloo's ISTDP, as well as discussion. For all subsequent meetings, the format will consist of 3-4 group members each having the opportunity to present a video-recorded session of their choosing for a 60 minute supervision. The first 50 minutes will be one-to-one supervision, followed by 10 minutes of group discussion on the case presented. 10 minute breaks will follow each presentation. The following month the other 3-4 group members will have the opportunity to present their work. This rotation will continue month-to-month.

Please email Dr. Entis at drjonathanentis@gmail.com if you are interested.