“Convinced He Couldn’t Feel”

In July 2010, it was my great pleasure to speak at the 5th International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association Conference (IEDTA) in Vancouver, B.C. Presenters included Dr. Jaak Panskepp, who coined the term “affective neuroscience,” the field that studies the neural mechanisms of emotion. Master clinicians Dr. Patricia Coughlin, Jon Frederickson, MSW, Dr. Robert Neborsky, Dr. Allan Abbass, Dr. Josette ten Have-de Labije, Dr. Thomas Brod, Dr. Allen Kalpin and others showed profoundly moving session videotape on overcoming resistance.

My topic was the impact and process of awakening hope and strengthening desire in a patient who had been “Convinced He Couldn’t Feel” for much of his life. In the first session, this man achieved a level of intimacy with me that he had believed impossible… which has important implications for his future relationships. I have just completed an article elaborating on this, including the 1st session transcript, which will appear in the next issue of the Ad Hoc Bulletin Of Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. (Subscribe through the Southern California for ISTDP or the IEDTA website).

By Susan Warren Warshow, LCSW, MFT, BCD

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 4th, 2010 at 10:58 am and is filed under Conference, Treatment Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.