Short Course: Understanding the Secret Logic in Relational Conflict using Control Mastery Theory in Therapy ~ November 9th, 2025

This is a three-hour course providing an introduction to Control-Mastery Theory (CMT) and its application in relational therapy. It will focus on deepening therapists’ understanding of unconscious “testing” processes within therapeutic and close personal relationships. Based on the work of Joseph Weiss, CMT emphasizes how unconscious beliefs, rooted in early relational conflict, influence emotional well-being and relational behavior.  The ultimate outcome is to develop mastery over problems and regain a sense of emotional wellbeing.

Participants will explore two key concepts.

• Passive-into-active testing—where clients unconsciously reenact a troubling relational dynamic.
• Transference testing—where clients assess the therapist’s capacity to   respond differently from past familial figures. Through these processes, clients seek to disprove maladaptive beliefs and work toward emotional healing.

The course will also examine the phenomenology of psychological safety in relational conflict. Participants will learn how the establishment of safety in a relationship provides the basic framework for powerful pre-conscious material to be brought forward and worked through. Attendees will learn how to identify conflicts and foster an environment that supports clients’ testing and resolution of problematic beliefs. The training includes a combination of lecture and experiential learning. The lecture component will provide a clear theoretical framework, supported by clinical examples, that encourage a sensitivity to client’s subjective trauma, racial oppression, and lived experience. The experiential exercise will allow participants to practice identifying and responding to unconscious testing within a therapeutic context, enhancing their ability to identify and work effectively with these processes.This course is ideal for therapists interested in deepening their relational theories and improving their understanding of relational dynamics.

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Identify when a client is engaging in a transference test.
2. Recognize emotions and experiences related to passive into active testing.
3. Summarize the role of cultural, socio-economic, and subjective experience in the therapists pro-plan behavior.

Limited space is available. Registration will be capped at 20 with a waitlist. Registration closes at noon on November 7th or when full.

About our Speaker:

Aaron Bourne, LPC, NCC maintains a private practice serving the greater Washington, DC, area. He has taught psychodynamic and humanistic psychotherapy at numerous universities and institutes over his twenty-year career. He is currently a faculty member of the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis’s Couples Therapy Training Program. He is a Gulf War veteran and a retired Air Force officer.

References:

Gazzillo, F., Kealy, D., Florenza, E., & Rodini, M. (2025). Passing tests and using one’s attitude to help patients overcome their pathogenic feelings of guilt and shame. Journal of Clinical Psychology,81(1), 31-43.  https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23738

Gazzillo, F., Mannocchi, C., Curtis, J., Biuso, G. S., De Luca, E., Fimiani, R., Silberschatz, G. (2024). Passing patients’ tests and following patients’ coaching communications in psychotherapy: an empirical study. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 38(1), 160-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2024.2354283

Eleonora, F., Valeria, C., Renato, C. (2024). Vicious relational circles and chronic couple conflictuality: An empirical study. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 54, 155–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-023-09607-5

Cost and Registration:

$90 ICP+P Members
$50 ICP+P 1st +2nd Year Members, Emerging Professionals, MITs and Graduate Student Members, and Fellows
$50 Unaffiliated Students and Fellows
$120 Non-Members
$75 International Attendees (Outside US)

A refund for cancellation is available up to 10 days before the start date.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Continuing education credit: 3.0 CE credits available for full attendance. The Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (ICP+P) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. ICP+P maintains responsibility for this program and its content. ICP+P is approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to offer Category I continuing education credit. As our CE program receives oversight from a licensed social worker, the CE credits we award are highly likely to be recognized by licensing boards in Virginia and the District of Columbia. These continuing education credits meet the ANCC standards for nurses. Marriage and family therapists licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia may submit these CE credits to their licensing boards. (Marriage and family therapists in other jurisdictions and licensed counselors should inquire with their local Boards regarding continuing education credit.) Attendees from the above professional groups will earn 3.0 CE credits for attending the CE activity. Full attendance is required to receive the designated CE credit.

* Aaron Bourne, LPC, NCC, as presenter, and the planners have informed us that they do not have a conflict of interest and have disclosed that they have no relevant financial relationships with any commercial interests pertaining to this educational activity. Any references to “off-label” (non-FDA approved) use of medication, products or devices will be explicitly disclosed in the presentation.

CE Credit is granted to participants with documented attendance at the short course. Credit will not be granted to registrants who are more than 15 minutes late or depart more than 15 minutes early from a session.