| Beyond Countertransference: When Existential Intimacy Fails by Amy Friedman, Ph.D. |
Have you had the experience of hearing aspects of your own life and experience reflected through your client’s voice? Have you ever thought you were doing treatment with your “shadow self?” This talk will look at the phenomena of synchronicity and twinship in the clinical relationship, as well as a look at an existential approach to treating Borderline Personality Disorder. These concepts will largely be explicated by presenting a personal example of Twinship within a therapeutic relationship. Issues of countertransference, intimacy, and decisions around navigating merger and separation will be highlighted.
Additionally, we will examine how the phenomena of Twinship might potentially enhance and deepen the treatment in meaningful ways and how to survive it, when a personally charged clinical relationship fails or ends.
Amy Friedman is a steering committee member at NECET. In addition to a private practice in Brookline, MA she is also a Clinical Fellow at the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy, gaining postdoctoral training in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Her recent dissertation examined resiliency from early traumatic experiences, from a cross-theoretical integrative perspective. Her areas of specialization include trauma and eating disorders, spirituality and religion, creative professionals, couples, and a diverse range of normative concerns.
Discussant: NECET member Joanna Poole
May 6, 2007
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