Clinical Case Discussion Workshop – Treating Challenging Patients: From Case Formulation to Shared Treatment Focus – Presented by Jonathan Shedler, PhD [Seminar]

NARRATIVE

This clinical workshop will help therapists navigate the treatment challenges and impasses that inevitably arise in psychotherapy. It focuses on two linked, core skills: (1) developing a sound clinical case formulation, and (2) developing a shared treatment purpose with clients. When therapy stalls or loses direction, the difficulty almost always traces back to one or both.

The day will center on hands-on demonstration of therapy concepts and methods through live case discussion and consultation, with ample use of role play to illustrate practical clinical application. Volunteer workshop participants will have an opportunity to present current cases for consultation. Case discussion and role plays will be interwoven with didactic teaching and group discussion, with an emphasis on translating clinical concepts into real-world practice.

Key topics will include distinguishing the consultation phase from ongoing psychotherapy, establishing the therapy frame, treatment contracting, developing a working alliance, developing a shared treatment purpose, and using transference and counter-transference to work through impasses and enactments and to deepen the treatment.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the three pillars of a working alliance.
2. Distinguish between legitimate psychotherapy goals and life goals.
3. Explain the relationship between working alliance, case formulation, and treatment contracting.
4. Identify factors that contribute to treatment impasses and describe how they may be addressed within a psychodynamic framework.
5. Demonstrate the use of transference and counter-transference in developing a case formulation and treatment focus.
6. Differentiate between information conveyed in the content of the patient’s material and the here-and-now interaction occurring in the therapy session.

COURSE OUTLINE—6 hours

9:30 – 10:00 am                     

Registration

10:00 – 10:15 am  

• • Introduction of Presenter

10:15 – 11:00 am  

• • Laying the foundation: The consultation phase, establishing the frame, and need for a shared focus

11:00 – 11:15 am  

• • Break

11:15 – 12:15 pm  

• • Case consultation(s)

12:15 – 12:30 pm  

• • The three pillars of a working alliance

12:30 – 1:00 pm  

• • Case consultation

1:00 – 2:00 pm  

• • Lunch Break

2:00 – 2:30 pm  

• • Case formulation

2:30 – 4:00 pm  

• • Case consultations(s)

4:00 – 4:30 pm  

• • Case formulation and treatment focus revisited

4:30 – 5:00 pm  

• • Discussion

5:00 pm

• • End of conference

CONTENT CURRICULUM

1) This presentation builds upon key competencies, skill sets, and knowledge bases associated with the literature of contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy, including models of conflict, object relations, mentalization, and relational principles. It builds upon graduate-level concepts and elaborates them into applied clinical methodologies directly relevant to psychodynamically informed psychotherapy.

2) This presentation directly informs the clinical praxis of applied psychotherapy.  It includes a review of theoretical considerations as well as praxis considerations which directly inform treatment planning, case conceptualization, and the boundaries established in psychotherapy.

3) The content of this presentation represents an intermediate level application of principles of psychodynamically informed psychotherapy. It presumes basic level knowledge of the assumptions and world-view inherent to several models of psychoanalytic psychotherapy (that is, basic knowledge the principles of object relations, self-psychology, and related concepts).

4) The content of this presentation is comprehensively based in the established literature of contemporary psychoanalytically-informed psychotherapy, especially as it relates to personality theory and self-psychology.  The concepts and methodologies described are characteristic of the broadly accepted principles and theoretical frames associated with this well documented model of psychotherapy. The inherent limitations of this content include the well-documented difficulties in establishing the empirical evidence of efficacy among competing models of psychotherapy, which are complicated by competing assumptions about what represents desirable outcomes (for example, behavior change vs. development of psychological capacities which may be difficult to measure).  The risks involved in this presented content include transient discomfort and emotional dislocation involved in addressing basic psychological processes which may be recognized as important parts of the selves of the participants.

5) Cultural, individual, and role differences will be intentionally addressed in the context of case discussions, with particular attention to how identity-based dynamics, societal structures, and systemic inequities influence psychotherapy processes. Case material will be explored with sensitivity to intersecting identities, and participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own cultural positioning and its impact on therapeutic relationships and interventions.

Bio:

Jonathan Shedler, PhD is known internationally as an author, consultant, and master clinician and teacher. He is best known for his classic article The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, which won worldwide acclaim for establishing psychoanalytic therapy as an evidence-based treatment. Dr. Shedler’s research and writing are shaping contemporary views of personality styles and their treatment. He is author of more than 100 scientific and scholarly articles, creator of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) for personality diagnosis and clinical case formulation, and co-author of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2 and forthcoming PDM-3). Dr. Shedler lectures internationally, leads workshops for professional audiences, consults to U.S. and international government agencies, and provides expert clinical case consultation to mental health professionals worldwide. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.

COST:

CIP Members:

$150 early registration 10 business days prior to seminar; $180 after

Non-Members:

$180 early registration up to 10 business days prior to seminar, $210 after

CEs: 6 CEs for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and 6 CEs for Psychologists

The Community Institute for Psychotherapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.  The Community Institute for Psychotherapy maintains responsibility for these programs and their contents. 

Accommodations will be made wherever possible for those with disabilities. Please let us know of any disabilities upon registration to ensure proper accommodations are put in place prior to the workshop/training.

Cancellations must be received in writing 10 business days prior to the seminar, class, or first study group session for a refund minus a $25 cancellation fee. Cancellations less than ten days will not be refunded.