18th
Annual Research Conference
Program Objectives
At the conclusion
of this conference, participants will be able to: (1) critically assess the areas of conflict, assets and deficits that influence
the process of change in treatment from a developmental perspective (2) identify the clinical phenomenon of
the defense transference and (3) utilize the concept of cycling in the treatment process to guide their assessment of change.
Program Summary
Dr. Lebovitz will describe the research
he and clinician colleagues at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis have been pursuing over the course of the last
30 years to assess the outcome of psychoanalytic treatment and to identify the technical factors that account for the observed
changes. Their primary methodology is a set of followup interviews of both the patient and the analyst
two or more years after the completion of psychoanalytic treatment. Early in their work they found that
a psychodynamic developmental perspective was particularly useful to identify the factors that postdicted outcome. Dr.
Lebovitz will show how their findings can inform treatment paradigms and can be used to guide clinicians toward
more effective interventions both in psychoanalysis and in other dynamic psychotherapies.
The findings of this
research indicate that a developmental perspective provides a useful diagnostic framework. This framework then provides
a pragmatic foundation for treatment planning, deciding what change one may realisticaly anticipate for a given
patient. The framework also provides a means of articulating which areas showed change and what issues were inadequately
engaged, resulting in inadequate or compromised change.
Participants will
have an opportunity to use a rating scale developed for this study to evaluate clinical material; and they will
then engage in an interactive discussion with Dr. Lebovitz to learn more about his method of evaluating
change. Special attention will be focused on the concepts of defense transference, cycling and the development
of a self-analytic function. Participants will be encouraged to adapt these ideas to their own clinical work, to
refine their interventions and enhance their ability to assess change, both as treatment proceeds and at the conclusion
of treatment.
Participants who wish to prepare
in depth for the conference may read
Schlessinger, N. and Robbins, F. P. (1975). The Psychoanalytic Process: Recurrent Patterns of Conflict
and Changes in Ego Functions. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
23: 761-782
Rubovits-Seitz, PFD (1998)
Depth-Psychological Understanding: The Methodologic Grounding of Clinical Interpretations. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Chapter 9, pp249-282
Bucci, W. & Maskit, B. (2007) Beneath the surface of the therapeutic interaction;
The psychoanalytic method in modern dress. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55: 1355-1397 Registrants who have difficulty gaining access to the readings may contact us by email (CPRincDC@verizon.net) for help.
