Intersubjectivity understands the therapeutic relationship as one of mutual influence – two subjectivities at work. Consequently, the therapist shifts their cognitive formulations “about” the patient turning their attention and speaking “with” the patient of the interplay of deep affective states and experiences stirred within the therapist, the patient and the in-between. The work and the words we find to understand this intersubjective process is much more complex than offering an objective interpretation.
As most methods are cautious in articulating to the patient their experience of the patient - this is one of the most difficult shifts to make when working within a relational model. Learning a new way of articulation involves speaking to the emotional field evident within the therapeutic space.
The course will focus on speaking to the analyst’s experience of their patients, the links and patterns that are emerging, the replications that are occurring and the working through and negotiating of the inevitable impasses and enactments that occur when the therapist chooses to enter into dialogue with their patients.
The seminar will wrestle with the risks of relational speech as it considers courageous speech alongside disciplined spontaneity. It will address the need for the analyst’s radical openness of their own affective and unconscious states as the major artery to the patient’s own states of being. The course will address the art of metabolization and encourage the therapist to risk their thoughts, affects and experience on behalf of the patient entering into complex dialogue beyond the safety of transference and transference resistance interpretations.
Presenter: Dr. Roy Barsness, is a Clinical Psychologist, and Founder and Executive Director of the Contemporary Psychodynamic Institute. Dr. Barsness is a dynamic and passionate teacher/clinician and will be presenting on his recent book, Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2018) a clear and concise handbook of relationally-oriented psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Dr. Barsness served as Professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology for 20 years and is a regular presenter at the Alliance and NPSI.