Implications for the Treatment of Severe Personality Disorders

with Diana Diamond, PhD

This program was presented on Saturday, March 5, 2011

Diana Diamond, Ph.D. will talk about how therapists’ and patients’ states of mind with respect to attachment affect the therapeutic process and outcome. She will explain how the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) can be used to recognize and understand disorganized/unresolved attachment states of mind and the ways in which these states result in the formation of multiple, incompatible working models of attachment figures and multiple, irreconcilable models of the self. The presentation will also include a consideration of aspects of the co-constructed therapeutic relationship that advance or impede the therapeutic change process in working with patients who exhibit attachment disorganization. In particular, Dr. Diamond will emphasize how the therapists’ capacity to hold a patient’s multiple self-states and dissociated aspects of self through both enacted, transformative experiences and through verbalized discussion of intrapsychic conflict facilitate change. I Clinical case material and research data on the impact of patients’ and therapists’ states of mind with respect to attachment and capacity for mentalization in the therapeutic dyad, as assessed on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and Patient Therapist Adult Attachment Interview (PT-AAI), will be presented to illustrate these points.

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe how the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Patient-Therapist Adult Attachment Interview (PT-AAI) may be used in clinical practice and research.
  2. Recognize the ways in which the attachment status of individuals with severe personality disorders, who tend to be classified with Unresolved/disorganized attachment on the AAI, may affect therapeutic process and outcome in psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  3. Discuss the ways in which therapeutic process and outcome are affected by: a) the attachment status of therapist and patient with respect to each other; and b) the capacity for mentalization in the therapeutic dyad of both therapist and patient.

Registration

Register by mail and pay by check

Send your check (payable to ICP&P) and the registration form to: ICP&P, 4601 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 8, Washington, DC 20008.

Register online and pay by credit card

Link to online registration at EventBrite

Fees

ICP&P Member – free
Non Member $ 90.00
Students $ 35.00

Continuing Education

3.0 CE credits available for full attendance

The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis (ICP&P) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. ICP&P is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. ICP&P is approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to offer Category I continuing education credit. Because ICP&P has approval from the Maryland Board, CE credits hours awarded by ICP&P may also be claimed by social workers licensed in Virginia and the District of Columbia. These continuing education credits meet the ANCC approval standards for nurses and the approved standards for marriage & family therapists. Attendees from the above professional groups will earn 3 CE credits for attending the conference. Full attendance is required to receive the designated CE credit. ICP&P is accredited by MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society to provide continuing medical education for physicians. ICP&P designates this educational activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Neither ICP&P nor the presenter has any relevant financial relationship with any commercial interests.