Note: This course is restricted to licensed clinicians only, as it contains confidential video clinical material; Unlicensed clinicians need advance permission from the instructor.

ISTDP is a systematic revision of psychoanalytic technique allowing practitioners to use emotional and attachment links to unlock a very wide range of psychopathology. Outcome studies of high quality have demonstrated the effectiveness of ISTDP in Personality Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders including Bipolar Disorder and Treatment-resistant Depression, Medically Unexplained and Somatoform Disorders, Eating Disorders, and Substance Use Disorders. Across all psychopathology, ISTDP allows clinicians to assess  anxiety with precision, working with patients at the point of maximal readiness for change.

This program defines how we put theory into practice. By viewing videotaped clinical cases, participants observe and consider key skills of attunement to develop and maintain an effective focus extending standard therapeutic techniques. In this presentation, we plan two video vignettes identifying two cases that presented with panic. In each case, the symptoms of panic disappeared after the initial consultation. That’s when the difficult and interesting work begins!

The format includes orienting PowerPoint lectures and moment-to-moment analysis of the clinical videotape illustrating decision points regarding increasing and decreasing pressure on whatever unconscious system happens to be at the forefront.

Learning Objectives

As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:

• Apply several forms of pressure and use patient’s level of anxiety to determine threshold of tolerable pressure
• List the three primary discharge pathways of unconscious anxiety
• Examine the unconscious guilty need for punishment and self- sabotage in patients/clients and help them free themselves from the resultant symptoms
• Explain resistance to emotional closeness and its the relationship to primal attachment
• Identify and deactivate the omnipotent transference; Identify “fragility of ego structure” and apply techniques to build (ego) structure

Thomas Brod, MD, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. He is a senior faculty member at NCP and the co-coordinator of the Film and Mind Series. He is also on the faculty of the ISTDP Institute (Washington, D.C.).

Target Audience:  Licensed clinicians

CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT INFORMATION

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of ths CME/CE program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose. 

PHYSICIANS: 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 the American Psychoanalytic Association and the New Center for Psychoanalysis. 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 the maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.  

PSYCHOLOGISTS: The New Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. New Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Full attendance is required for psychologists to receive credit; partial credit may not be awarded based on APA guidelines. For the psychologists’ records, certificates of attendance are provided at the completion of the course.  

SOCIAL WORKERS, MARRIAGE and FAMILY THERAPISTS (LCSW, LMFT, ASW, IMF, LEP, LPCC, PCCI) 

The New Center for Psychoanalysis is a continuing education provider that has been approved by the American Psychological Association, a California Board of Behavioral Sciences recognized approval agency. 

REGISTERED NURSES: The New Center for Psychoanalysis is an accredited provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider #CEP1112). Registered Nurses may claim only the actual number of hours spent in the educational activity for credit.