Alan P. Spivak, Ph.D., Training/Supervising Analyst, LAISPS
Fees
Licensed Professional — $225
Pre Licensed/Candidate — $150
To maximize the learning experience class size will be limited to 26 students, with in-person attendance capped at 12 participants and Zoom attendance at 14.
Early enrollment is advised to ensure a place and to receive readings in advance by email.
Enrollment closes Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Three Saturday Afternoons
February 1, 8, 15
1-4pm
Psychoanalytic concepts and procedures, while profoundly evocative, often are painfully counterintuitive and non-user friendly, as they address an unconscious known to be mysterious, contradictory, ironic, enigmatic and paradoxical.
The aim of technique is to disrupt the stasis of the symptom or of pathological character traits, thereby freeing the subject of unnecessary suffering. Even an experienced therapist, however, responding to intense pressures within the clinical hour, the countertransference, may lose the capacity for, and access to, the counterintuitive understanding of the process and then, unwittingly, replace the disruptive opportunity with something more familiar, commonplace and obvious: an offer of reassurance, direct support, or by addressing exclusively the manifest material of the session.
The results of this retreat, a collusion with the patient’s avoidance, may be a combination of temporary symptom relief, agonizing repetitiveness, intellectualization, or hopelessness and despair about further progress of the treatment.
This course addresses the dynamics within symptoms and clinical technique, that are counterintuitive and disruptive, but also elusive and, therefore, challenging to master, or even remember, as they pertain to transference, the frame, masochism, resistance, dependency, and sexuality. The instructor will introduce an interpretive attitude and approach, gleaned from decades of clinical experience, that addresses the dialectical tension between “going on being” and the disruption of change, and that maximizes the chances of a mutually satisfying deepening of the work. Clinical vignettes will be used to illustrate major points.
Education Objectives
Upon completion of this CE activity, participants should be able to:
Recognize and apply the disruptive and counterintuitive edges of analytic technique.
Employ techniques to work more effectively and deftly with paradoxical and ironic aspects of symptoms.
Formulate follow-up interpretations to address patient’s perceptions and responses to the therapist’s interventions.
Identify interventions to help address fears of dependency and regression in relationships and the transference.
Recognize and interpret disguised fears of sexuality.
Formulate interventions that both surprise and relieve patients of primitive anxieties.
Licensed Professional — $225
Pre Licensed/Candidate — $150
Program Committee
Thomas P. Helscher, Ph.D., Chair
Lisa B. Crilley, M.F.T., Co-Chair
Committee Members
Scott Shapiro, Psy.D.
Sandra Wilder-Padilla, Ph.D.
Rachel Katz
Keith Bernstein
Simone Kiboudi, LPC
Target Audience
This program is on an advanced level and meets the needs of all mental health professionals, including Psychiatrists,Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists. CE Credit is offered for licensed psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists.
CE Credit Information
Important Disclosure: All planners, faculty, staff and others involved with this activity have reported no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
This activity has not received commercial support.
Accreditation Statements
Psychologists: LAISPS is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. LAISPS maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Psychologists can earn a maximum of 9 CE credits for this program. Partial credit may not be awarded, based on APA guidelines. Psychiatrists: CME credit will not be offered for this program.
Board of Behavioral Sciences: The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts courses approved by the APA for Continuing Education for LCSW, LMFT, LPCC and LEP licenses. 9 CE credits can be earned for this program.
To Earn Credit: Participants must complete an online evaluation within two weeks of completing each session of this CE activity in order to receive credit.
Refunds/Cancellations: Refunds, less a $10 administrative fee, will be made if cancellation notification is phoned or postmarked three (3) business days in advance of this program. There will be no refunds on requests received after the refund deadline. Full refunds are made in the event that LAISPS must cancel this program.
Returned Checks: A $35.00 service charge will be assessed for checks returned by the bank.
Confidentiality: By registering for this educational event, attendees agree to strictly maintain confidentiality of any clinical material shared and will not distribute or convey such confidential material outside of the conference.
About the Presenter
Dr. Spivak is a member of the faculty of LAISPS and the Wright Institute of Los Angeles.
Dr. Spivak has twice been the recipient of the Sanville Award for Creative Writing in Psychoanalysis. He has presented papers and lectures nationally and internationally with special emphasis on the process of clinical formulation and interpretation.