The Therapist’s Vulnerability
Emerging Themes in Clinical Work
Friday 31 March 2023
A Live Webinar with Dr Karen Maroda
CPD Credits: 3.5 hours
- Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event)
- Bookings close at 9:00am BST Tuesday 28 March
It has long been recognised that therapists have a history of being caretakers in their families of origin. Yet we have not pursued how that role impacted our own personal growth, values, ideas and limitations. What are the vulnerabilities and strengths that we share as a result of being precociously assigned the responsibility for others’ happiness or even their psychic survival?
READ MORE...What role does the resulting guilt, shame and desire to rescue and be rescued play in the creation of both our theories and preferred interventions? And do we tend to be excessively passive as a result of not having any real power as children when faced with the daunting responsibility of being soother, peacemaker, mediator and even entertainer?
In the spirit of expanding the conversation about the dynamics in the therapeutic dyad, this presentation focuses on three topics: The therapist’s early experiences and how they impact both our theory and practice, the natural human limits of empathy, and the role of enactment in the therapeutic process. This program is designed for working clinicians, focusing heavily on clinical examples and opening up conversation about the ways we work and how we might creatively enhance our interventions with clients.
FULL PROGRAMME
14.00 BST
Introductions
14.05
The Therapist’s Early Experience
Presenting as unusually sensitive and empathic children, we were naturally enrolled as soothers and peacekeepers. Yet at the same time that we were rewarded for these behaviors, and experienced some success, we were ultimately destined to failure. It was not possible for us to truly heal our depressed mothers and other family members. As a result, we carry a legacy of guilt, shame and the need to heal ourselves as we attempt to heal our clients. More importantly, these needs and desires both fuel our therapeutic work and can limit our success to the extent that we are unaware of these motivations and the unrealistic expectations they can produce.
15.00
Break
15.15
The Limits of Empathy
The capacity for empathy is arguably the keystone of all therapeutic work. It is essential in the early stages of treatment as we help our clients feel understood and accepted. But have we exaggerated both its relative value and our capacity to provide it as the therapeutic relationship evolves? Mirror neuron research has been interpreted incorrectly to mean that deep empathy is both possible and automatic. But this is a fallacy. The social science literature has documented that empathy is not automatic, even among therapists. The experience of ‘personal distress’ in the face of the client’s sadness, anger and helplessness often results in a distancing response. And the heavy focus on empathy can easily lead to the closing down of needed conflict.
16.00
Q&A
16.15
Break
16.30
Enactment and Therapeutic Action
Enactment has been accepted as inevitable, particularly with clients who cannot access their feelings at a conscious level. Described as mutual projective identification, resulting in some unplanned, unconscious emotionally charged event, it has become a primary focus in the conversation about therapeutic action. Is it true that because so much communication in the therapeutic dyad is unconscious, we need to rely on enactment to know what both our clients and ourselves are feeling? Can we only know our minds, and process our feelings, once they have been enacted? This presentation argues that self-awareness and selective expression of countertransference emotions can minimize both impasses and the enactments that typically follow.
17.30
Discussion and Q&A
18.00
End