Please note: This study group will meet on three Tuesday evenings: January 19, 26, and February 2.

Can we learn anything from cognitive behavioral strategies while retaining a fidelity to psychoanalytic theory and practice? And if so, what does fidelity mean in this regard anyway–how could one assimilate and/or integrate aspects of other thoughts into practice in the treatment of trauma and its symptoms? How, for example, can I best respond to clinical situations where a CBT protocol might also be called for, such as attention concerns with persons diagnosed with ADHD, or debilitating anxiety, dread, or intractable depression? The use of CBT strategies in combination with psychoanalytic practice, while generally repudiated in conservative psychoanalytic circles, is received with wider curiosity amongst more contemporary psychoanalytic traditions. My own practice attempts to "lean upon" CBT methodologies alongside a post-Lacanian approach in the treatment of PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. To my mind, it does not matter what psychodynamic orientation one has to be open to other systems of knowledge or practice. What seems to matter in this regard is a capacity to sustain one's curiosity towards other contexts of treatment, especially when our own appears to be falling short or failing.

The aim of this short three-week study group is threefold. First, we will briefly review highlights of contemporary current applications of CBT in their various protocols. Second, we will briefly review from the literature how others have already begun to integrate CBT strategies into their psychoanalytic practices. Third, we will discuss how this material might apply to our own practices.

CEU’s will be provided for those who are interested (via the New School for Analytical Psychology) for a small fee. There will be materials shared ahead of time and I plan on sharing those by mid-December. 

For more information, contact Robin McCoy Brooks at robin.mccoy@comcast.net