Beginning Treatment: Understanding What the Patient is Trying to Communicate and Responding Empathically
Bernadette Kovach, Ph.D. and Lynn Kuttnauer, Ph.D.
Tuesdays 7:30-9 pm
May 17, 24, 31, June 14, 21, 28, 2011
9 CME/CE credit hours
$180
Farmington Hills
This course is designed for beginning clinicians, psychiatric residents, and graduate students who are interested in increasing their ability to listen more effectively to the underlying meaning of what their patients' are saying. We will learn to identify the various ways patients communicate their needs and explore the ways in which they make use of defenses. Segments of the HBO series "In Treatment" will be used along with clinical material from ‘real treatments' to demonstrate the following concepts: listening to the metaphor, the therapeutic relationship, understanding the frame, transference and counter-transference.
Course Objectives:
1. We will explore ways to enhance the therapeutic alliance by engaging the patient as collaborator and fostering a sense of curiosity in both the patient and therapist early in treatment.
2. Discussions will focus on increasing the new clinician's ability to make empathic interpretations using the patient's metaphors and working with the patient's defenses.