How to work when therapy isn't working

Τα τελευταία χρόνια οι πιο συναρπαστικές εξελίξεις στον χώρο μας έχουν έρθει μέσω των νευροεπιστημών, της ψυχοθεραπευτικής σύνθεσης (της αλληλεπίδρασης μεταξύ θεραπευτικών προσεγγίσεων) και της συμπερίληψης του σώματος. Πλέον κατανοούμε ότι με τον έναν ή τον άλλο τρόπο —πέρα από τη λεκτική επαφή— και θα ασχοληθούμε αλλά και θα μπλεχτούμε μέσα στις ψυχολογικές πληγές που φέρνει ο θεραπευόμενος στο γραφείο μας.

The term ‘enactment’ is being used to describe the ways in which the therapist’s whole being is - inevitably and necessarily - drawn into the client’s wounding, leading to impasses and breakdowns in the working alliance. When the working alliance becomes conflicted or breaks, there is great therapeutic potential in these cycles of ‘rupture and repair’ that occur in the client-therapist relationship.

Whilst there are a multitude of ways in which therapists can ignore, avoid and counteract enactment, there is also increasing understanding that it has deep transformative potential*

[* According to Allan Schore, a well-known neuropsychoanalyst and one of the interdisciplinary elders of our field, ‘deep’ psychotherapy, (i.e. therapy that addresses early developmental injury and attachment and character patterns) depends on apprehending, engaging in and transforming spontaneous enactments which occur in the interaction between client and therapist in spite of the client’s repressive and dissociative defences —he speaks about enactment in terms of ‘mutual regressions’ between client and therapist.]

But much of it occurs subliminally. So if it occurs implicitly, unconsciously, outside of awareness, how can we perceive and understand enactment and ultimately respond creatively from within it? 

Much of our training in the talking therapies has focussed on explicit, verbal communication. It has not prepared us for the subtlety, quicksilver spontaneity and the sheer wealth of non-verbal and somatic communication, and how to make sense of it, and link it to the verbal interaction.

This CPD workshop is dedicated to deepening our engagement with difficult dynamics in the therapeutic relationship, and to finding ways of accessing the therapeutic potential locked within them.

It is open to all practising therapists, and suitable for practitioners from all modalities. The seminar, in addition to theoretical analysis, is experiential and interactive both with the trainer and with other participants.

A variety of preparatory and post-workshop materials, including hand-outs and articles, will be available.