Working with Repetition Compulsion: The re-enactment of unconscious childhood trauma

NOW CLOSED

Saturday 14 September 2019 - London

A one-day seminar with Dr David Celani

The superordinate need of the child is not for pleasure or need gratification, but for an intense relationship with another person… If only painful experiences are provided, the child does not give up looking for pleasurable experiences elsewhere, but seeks pain as a vehicle for interaction with the significant other. It is the contact, not the pleasure which is primary… Painful feelings, self destructive relationships, self-sabotaging situations, are re-created throughout life as vehicles for the perpetuation of early ties to significant others. Mitchell, 1988 (p:27).

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SPEAKERS

Dr David Celani,

FULL PROGRAMME

09.30
Registration and coffee

10.00
The Origins and the Development of Pathological Ego Structures in the Unconscious
Fairbairn’s focus on human development was on the child’s absolute dependency on the parent(s) for all of his psychological and physical needs. He recognized that the child’s emotional development required a consistent sense of security for it to continue. Those children that experienced repeated parental failures in empathy and compassion became “fixated” on their parent, waiting until support for continued development was given. The child protects himself from insecurity by not “knowing” that he is unloved by dissociating memories of parental failures into an unconscious structure (the Rejecting Object) as well as memories of himself as a frightened, shamed and humiliated child (the Antilibidinal Ego). This psychological self-deception creates a secure environment in which to live.

11.15
Coffee

11.45
Fairbairn’s Structural Model and the Clinical Skills Needed to Respond to the Split Off Selves When they Emerge in the Clinical Interview
This session will further discuss Fairbairn’s structural model, specifically, the second pair of dissociated self and objects, called the Libidinal Ego and the Exciting Object. Fairbairn observed that the lonely and desperate children in the orphanage where he worked created hope for themselves by focusing on imagined loving/promising aspects of their abandoning parents which he called the Exciting Object. This hope protects the child from seeing or accepting that his/her attachment to the parent is one-sided. Participants will learn how to identify, and respond appropriately to the libidinal ego when it emerges either in relation to the therapist or toward an exciting object in the patient’s external world. We will see how Fairbairn’s model of the inner world allows the clinician to understand patient dynamics, and thus protect him/her from becoming entangled in patient’s projections.

13.00
Lunch break

14.15
Fairbairn’s Model of Change and Becoming a Good Object for the Patient
Fairbairn emphasised the role of the good object in the treatment of patients as a pathway that would give them a healthy alternative to the bad objects that have held them in their thrall. He assumed that the attachment to a good object would allow their stalled development to resume. He did not account for patient resistance to the “goodness” of the object (which may seem foreign to them) nor did he factor in the patient’s loyalty to his bad objects. The technique of developing a clinical narrative with the patient that focuses on repeated developmental failures that he/she suffered during childhood will be illustrated. The dangers of increasing resistance with this type of narrative will also be discussed.

15:30
Tea

15:45
Specific Treatment Strategies
The workshop will conclude with a description of the specific dynamics and treatment strategies useful when working with patients who seek out rejecting/exciting bad objects, particularly where there is partner violence. Several examples will be described, including how to interpret the patient’s shifting ego states in ways that are understandable to them and do not increase their resistance to the work.

16.45
Final Questions

17.00
End

FEES

Handouts and lunch included

Early bird:
£100 (SOLD OUT)

Self-funded:
£120 (SOLD OUT)

Self-funded x 2:
£200 (SOLD OUT)

Organisationally-funded:
£200 (SOLD OUT)

Psychotherapy trainee:
£80 (SOLD OUT)

CPD

Certificates of attendance for 6 hours will be provided at the event

VENUE

6th Floor
Foyles Bookshop
107 Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H 0DT
DIRECTIONS & MAP >>

SCHEDULE

Saturday
09.30 Registration and coffee
10:00 Start
11:15 Coffee
13:00 Lunch break
15:30 Tea
17:00 End

BOOKING CONDITIONS

Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:

  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 60 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 100% refund.
  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 30 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 50% refund.

This does not apply to parts of an event such as a seminar within a series but only to a whole event or complete series. You may give your place to another person if you let us know that person's name at least 24 hours before the event begins.

We reserve the right to change a speaker at one of our conferences without offering a refund. However, if a solo presenter cancels we will offer a full refund OR transfer of your fee to another Confer event. If the entire event is cancelled we will offer you a full refund.

We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. Regrettably, discounts offered after you made your booking cannot be claimed or applied retrospectively.