This is a 3 part workshop.

Overview: 
Compared with other modalities, psychodynamic psychotherapy is burdened by an esoteric theoretical terminology, and a much longer learning curve for practitioners to become fluent in its theory and proficient in its techniques. Graduate students nowadays in mental health training programs are typically exposed to a brief series of lectures about psychodynamic psychotherapy as just one of several treatment modalities which are considered to be core competencies for their therapy training. Even the best training programs in psychiatry, psychology, clinical social work, and counseling are unable to offer adequate instruction to allow their students as novice therapists to make practical use of unconscious conflict, transference and countertransference, dreams, interpretation, working through, and termination. Therefore, psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalaysis are now frequently pursued by more advanced clinicians who are already seasoned and capable professionals, but who wish to deepen their therapy skills by learning more about how to make therapeutic use of unconscious processes. In this three-part seminar, Dr. Klafter will, without cumbersome technical psychoanalaytic jargon, describe the core elements of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic work at a high level for therapists who already have professional experience working in other modalities with patients suffering from a wide array of psychological problems. Dr. Klafter's emphasis throughout this series will be on practical, usable psychodynamic psychotherapy techniques. Theory will only be discussed as it applies to practical therapy interventions.

About the Presenter: 
Dr. Klafter has been training psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, and licensed counselors in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies for the last 20 years in supervision, seminars, and regular seminars at the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute.