Annual Conference~First Meetings in Therapy: Poetics and Pragmatics on May 5, 2018
Eric Mendelsohn will illuminate the power of first meetings by describing the emerging themes, experiential elements, and pragmatics of beginning treatment. He will examine how patients and psychoanalytic therapists think and feel about beginning therapy, focusing on the hopes and dreads of each, and will explore how these are reflected in the exchanges that mark the start of psychoanalytic therapy. Dr. Mendelsohn will articulate the relational practices that hold and shape the ensuing work -- such as how to structure first meetings to facilitate the start of a collaborative process.