April 29 and 30, 2022
Virginia Psychoanalytic Society presents
The Annual Vamik Volkan, M.D. Lecture
Friday evening, April 29, 2022 and Saturday morning, April 30, 2022
By Monica Carsky, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Personality Disorders Institute, Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Supervising and Training Analyst, Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey
FRIDAY: Treating Reality Problems In Narcissistic Patients
SATURDAY: Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP)
Zoom
https://zoom.us/join
Enter Meeting Number: 527-999-5540
(no password required)
Gratis unless you would like continuing education credits (pending), in which case the fee is $12.
UP TO 5 CME or CEU Credits available (pending)
REGISTRATION AND FEES – Paypal Treasury@Vpsas.Org
RSVP TO Keyhill Sheorn, MD 804-240-1095
3801 Commodore Point Place, Suite 200, Midlothian, VA 23112
Bio:
Dr. Carsky completed a postdoctoral fellowship in long term, intensive psychotherapy at the New York Hospital-Westchester Division before receiving a Certificate in Psychoanalysis from The Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR). She is on the faculty at IPTAR and NYU and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Senior Fellow, Personality Disorders Institute, Weill Medical College of Cornell University. In this role she has been a research therapist in studies of Transference Focused Psychotherapy, and serves on the International Society for Transference Focused Psychotherapy Ethics Committee. She is also a Supervising and Training Analyst, Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey, and is Past President of the NJ Psychoanalytic Society (a Component Society of the American Psychoanalytic Association) and a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association. Her Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) teaching includes annual workshops at the American Psychological Association National Meeting, and national and international individual and group supervision.
FRIDAY
Via Zoom
Hatred of Reality in Patients with Pathological Narcissism
Time:
6:00 – 6:30 p.m. Socializing
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Lecture
7:30 – 8:30 p.m. Q & A
8:30 – 9:00 p.m. Socializing
Description:
While reality can be difficult for any of us to bear at time, individuals who suffer from pathological narcissism have more deep-seated problems with it. For example, they assume “the rules” don’t apply to them. In therapy they assume they can pay their bills whenever they wish, not when the therapist has asked them to, and if they arrive late, the therapist should give them extra time at the end, so they will have their full session. In overt or subtle ways, they feel entitled to have others admire and serve them; the failure of others, or indeed, of fate, to match their expectations can lead to shockingly intense rage.
Therapy for these patients inevitably requires a therapist to clarify these behaviors and interpret their position in the patient’s pathological psychic structure. In some sense, the psychotherapy of persons with pathological narcissism is a long, slow process of helping them to accept and tolerate reality. This includes the reality of the problems for which they need the therapist, the reality of an inner life they have ignored, the reality of the damage they may have done to themselves and their relationships. The reality of the therapist and therapeutic situation is the practice field for these developments. Therapists need a great deal of tolerance and understanding in the process of introducing reality to such patients.
This presentation relies on the object relations theory framework for diagnosis and treatment developed over the last 40 years by Otto Kernberg and colleagues at the Weill Cornell Personality Disorders Institute. It will include discussion of theory and clinical examples, focusing particularly on the therapist and therapeutic frame.
Objectives:
⦁ List the characteristics of patients with overt and covert narcissistic disorders
⦁ Describe Kernberg’s concept of the pathological grandiose self
⦁ Give an example of the role of the treatment agreement in the psychotherapy of individuals with pathological narcissism
⦁ Describe how to manage countertransference to a patient with pathological narcissism.
References:
Caligor, E., Diamond, D., Yeomans, F., Kernberg, O. (2009). The Interpretive Process in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Borderline Personality Pathology. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Assoc. 57:271
Carsky, M. (2020). How Treatment arrangements enhance transference analysis in transference focused psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Psychology DOI: 10.1037/pap000013
Carsky, M. (2021) Managing countertransference in the treatment of personality disorders. In: Transference Focused Psychotherapy. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, special issue, edited by Eve Caligor and Barry Stern.
Diamond, D, Yeomans, FE, Stern, BL, Kernberg, OF (2022). Treating Pathological Narcissism with Transference Focused Psychotherapy. New York and London: Routledge.
Ellman, S. J. (2007) Analytic trust and transference: Love, healing ruptures and facilitating repairs. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 27(3): 246- 263. DOI: 10.1080/07351690701389445
Ellman, S. and Carsky, M. (2002) Analytic Trust, Interpretation and the Role of Symbolization. In: Symbolization and Desymbolization: Essays in Honor of Norbert Freedman. R. Lasky (Ed.) Other Press, NY, 2002, pp. 280-305.
Joseph, B. (1985). Transference: The Total situation. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 66:447-454.
Joseph, B. (2013). Here and Now: My Perspective. Int. J. Psycho-Anal. 94(1), 1-5.
Kernberg, O.F. (2019). Therapeutic implications of transference structures in various personality pathologies. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 67(6):951-986.
Yeomans, F.E., Clarkin, J.F., & Kernberg, O.F. (2015). Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide. Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Publishing.
SATURDAY
via Zoom
Transference Focused Psychotherapy: Overview with Focus on the Frame
Workshop 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Description:
This workshop presents an introduction to Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP, Yeomans, Clarkin & Kernberg, 2015; Levy, Yeomans & Spina, 2022), an empirically supported, psychodynamic treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) that has also been found useful for other personality disorders. Participants will be introduced to the theory and techniques of TFP, with a summary of the overall strategies and tactics of the therapy. This will model how clinicians may apply TFP elements to the challenging interpersonal situations therapists face in different settings.
While based in the psychodynamic tradition, TFP has important modifications, making it of broad use to clinicians working with patients with significant personality pathology. Therapy for borderline and other personality disorders is often disrupted by patients dropping out or clinicians burning out, and TFP has been found to reduce symptoms, to improve aspects of personality functioning, and in particular, to improve awareness of emotions in the self and others (reflective functioning), in patients with borderline personality disorders (Clarkin, Levy, Lenzenweger & Kernberg, 2007; Doering, Hoerz, Rentrop, Fischer-Kern, Schuster, Beneke et al, 2010).
Whether functioning on a borderline level or not, patients with pathological narcissism present particular challenges. An additional focus of the workshop will be how the initial phases of TFP are handled to address these. The agreed-upon treatment frame provides a context for discussions of the patient’s conscious and unconscious assumptions about reality, including the reality of patient-therapist interactions.
Objectives:
⦁ Describe the TFP model of psychopathology including relevant theory and constructs
⦁ Describe assessment in TFP and how to give feedback to patients.
⦁ List typical elements of the treatment frame and how to discuss these with patients.
⦁ Describe the therapist attitude and stance, and how countertransference is understood and managed
References:
Carsky, M. (2021) Managing countertransference in the treatment of personality disorders. In: Transference Focused Psychotherapy. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, special issue, edited by Eve Caligor and Barry Stern.
Clarkin, J.F., Levy, K.N., Lenzenweger, M., Kernberg, O.F. (2007). Evaluating three treatments for borderline personality disorder: A multiwave study. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 164:922-928.
Diamond, D, Yeomans, FE, Stern, BL, Kernberg, OF (2022). Treating Pathological Narcissism with Transference Focused Psychotherapy. New York and London: Routledge.
Doering S, Hoerz S, Rentrop, M, Fischer-Kern, M, Schuster, P, Benecke, C, Buchheim, A, Martius, P & Buchheim, P (2010). TFP vs. treatment by community therapists for BPD: RCT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 196, 389-395.
Draijer, N. & Van Zon, P (2013). Transference-focused psychotherapy with former child soldiers: meeting the murderous self. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 14, 170-183
Fisher-Kern, M, Doering, S, Taubner, S, Hoerz, S, Zimmerman, J, Rentrop, M, Schuster, P, Buchheim, P, Buchheim, A (2015) Transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: change in reflective function. The British Journal of Psychiatry 2007, 173–174. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.113.143842
Gaztambide, D. J. (2018). Treating borderline personality disorder in El Barrio: Integrating race and class into Transference-Focused Psychotherapy. In P. Gherovici & C. Christian (Eds.), Psychoanalysis in the Barrios, Routledge.
Levy, K. N., Yeomans, F. E., & Spina, D. S. (in press). Transference-focused psychotherapy. In S. Huprich (Ed.), Personality disorders and pathology: Integrating clinical assessment in practice in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 era. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
Yeomans, FE, Clarkin, J, Kernberg, OF (2015) Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide. Washington, DC and London: American Psychiatric Press.
Continuing Education (pending approval) – $12
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the Virginia Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 5.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose. For further information, contact Eli Zaller, M.D. at ejzdewe@aol.com or 804-288- 3251.
Up to 5.0 CEU’s (pending approval) are available for Licensed Clinical Psychologists and Licensed Professional Counselors in accordance with the applicable requirements of the Virginia Board of Psychology. There is no extra fee beyond the cost of the meeting. Eligibility for credit is contingent upon the Virginia Psychoanalytic Society’s receipt of the forms verifying attendance, as signed and validated by the monitor at the meeting. For further information, contact Margaret DuVall, Ph.D. at mlduVall@mrn.com or 804-840-3592.
Up to 5.0 CEU’s are available for MSW’s pending approval by NASW VIRGINIA. The application costs are included in your registration fee. MSW CEU requests will be sent to NASW VIRGINIA by the Virginia Psychoanalytic Society. For further information, contact Susan Stones, LCSW shstones413@gmail.com or 757-622-9852×207.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company. -Updated July 2021-
PLEASE NOTE: For attendance purposes, on the day of the presentation email your name and home/office emails to Dr. Zaller (richmondpsych1@verizon.net). Within 10 days of the presentation, please submit the Evaluation Form to Dr. Zaller. The form can be found on https://vpsas.org//