The STDP Institute

Overview

Course presentations will combine didactic and videotaped case material. Psychodynamics and behavioral theories will be interwoven with practical approaches to managing affect. The value of exploring patient-therapist interactions will be studied.

All training will be in small groups. Psychotherapists who wish to explore this area in the Introductory Courses or further develop their skills in the Advanced courses are invited to apply.

Introductory Course

This course will emphasize the importance of the experience of affect. Theory explaining the connection of affect to symptoms will be discussed and techniques to be used by patients and therapists to gain access to affect will be explored. After learning how to recognize and gain accesss to affect, therapists will learn how to help their patients bear and regulate affect. The following topics will receive special attention:

• The Origin and Function of Defenses
• Defense Analysis
• Empathy
• Empathic Interaction
• Affect Related Sensations
• Experiential Techniques
• Grief
• Fantasy and Psychodrama

Videotaped vignettes will be used to illustrate theory and technique.

Advanced Course

Participants in advanced courses must be practicing psychotherapists. All will be required to bring videotapes of a patient currently in treatment with them at times during the course. The participants will begin by studying patient/therapist interactions and proceed to linking thse interactions to patient symptoms and past history. The techniques presented in the Introductory Courses will be used to help patients understand themselves as well as to tolerate and make use of the affect(s) they had previously feared.

As the avoidance of affect decreases, defensive behavior and symptoms decrease. Improvement leads to mixed feelings in patients about themselves and past events. When patients and therapists explore these mixed feelings and the increasing sense of connection that patients have with their therapists, another series of reactions occur. Exploring these reactions leads to a deeper understanding and satisfaction.

For Futher Information

To discuss these courses, please leave a message at The STDP Institute, (212) 213-6156. Please indicate whether or not you are interested in courses at the New York or New Jersey location.