The Unanswered Self
A View of Personality Disorder
NOW CLOSED
This webinar was recorded and is now available as a Talk on Demand. Click here for more details.
Saturday 18 June 2022
A live webinar with Candace Orcutt, MA, PhD
CE Credits: 3 hours
- Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event)
- Bookings close at 4:00am EDT Wednesday 15 June
James Masterson was a leading figure and innovative thinker in the major psychoanalytic turn from the theory of repressed desires to a focus on relationship and the self. Essential to this shift was the naming and defining of personality disorder, an endeavor that both shaped Masterson’s work and, in turn, was shaped by him.
READ MORE...Unwilling to accept his “borderline” patients as “untreatable,” he began an effective synthesis of object relations theory and developmental studies that became the cornerstone of his theory and clinical practice. His integrative approach drew from the evolving work of Kernberg, Kohut, and Fairbairn to include borderline, narcissistic, and schizoid personality disorders in an overarching concept of disorders of the self.
Masterson’s earlier work explores the possibility that personality disorders may follow a developmental process of their own – a correlation of Margaret Mahler’s developmental subphases with a shadow-side of corresponding disorders in personality. Masterson’s perception of the basically healthy child within the developmental distortion of the patient – the defining of pathology as a normal process gone awry – is a therapeutic concept that goes back to Freud and forward into contemporary neuropsychology.
FULL PROGRAMME
09.00 EDT
Introductions
09.10
Masterson and Personality Disorder – A new concept
The shift in perspective from treatment of the isolated symptom to concern with the whole self has held increasing psychoanalytic attention since the time of Freud. James Masterson was one of the originating minds that recognized that the contemporary patient is most effectively addressed as a maladaptive personality constricted by a distorted concept of relationship. His integrative work began with the combining of the dynamics of early childhood put forward by the object relationists, together with the developmental observations described by Margaret Mahler. Applying this knowledge to his “borderline” patients, Masterson created an original, highly effective method of treatment that established him in the therapeutic field, and, in turn, contributed to its growth.
10.00
Q&A
10.15
Break
10.30
Core Theory – Disturbed patterns of relationship based on early development
Masterson’s dynamic approach holds that personality disorder is based on an unconscious repetition of a dysfunctional pattern of relationship learned by the patient in early childhood development. He referred to this as “transference acting-out,” and first demonstrated how it is manifested in the “borderline” patient. He then realised, in integrating his theory with Kohut’s work with narcissism, that this acting-out pattern of relationship differs with different types of personality disorder. In addition, he began to explore how these patterns correlate with difficulty in meeting nodal developmental tasks relating to degrees of psychic attainment of separation from the mother and individuation of the self. He began to extend this hypothesis with his further synthesizing of Fairbairn’s concept of the schizoid personality into his own overarching model of personality disorder.
11.15
Q&A
11.30
Break
11.45
Relationship as the source of both disorder and healing
Masterson turned to developmental theory to demonstrate how a distorted early mother-child model establishes maladaptive patterns of adult behavior. He drew from object relations theory to explain how this internalization blocks the healthy psychic development that leads to a confident ability for interrelating the self with another. The therapeutic alliance, he concluded, initiates a new psychic experience of relationship that creates a new, more adaptive model that is introjected by the patient. Contemporary theory generally supports this hypothesis, and further suggests that a trauma mechanism may contribute to the formation of personality disorder. This mechanism may offer an explanation for the formidable “abandonment depression” that Masterson saw as the ultimate resistance to the “letting go” of the first, distorted pattern of relationship.
12.30
Q&A
13.00
End
FEES (USD)
Bookings close at 4:00am EDT Wednesday 15 June
Live Webinar:
$96 (Member $48)
(Click here to become a member)
Includes a recording of the event
CE
This event is accredited by:
- NBCC
Certificates of attendance for 3 hours will be provided.
To receive the full CE credits, you are required to attend 100% of the live event. No partial credit will be given.
This event is NOT accredited by the following organisations:
- ASWB
- NYSED (Psychology)
- NYSED (Psychoanalysis)
- NYSED (Social Workers)
Please note, that this event is not being recorded and no CE test post event will be available and so you will need to attend all of the live event to receive the CE certificate.
Please contact events@conferonline.org for any further questions.
Confer has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7136. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Confer is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
VENUE
This is a live online webinar using Zoom software. Zoom is free to download and use.
For more information about Zoom click here.
To download Zoom free of charge click here.
For special accommodations for individuals with disabilities see our FAQs.
SCHEDULE
Friday
09.00 EDT Introductions
09.10 Masterson and Personality Disorder – A new concept
10.00 Q&A
10.15 Break
10.30 Core Theory – Disturbed patterns of relationship based on early development
11.15 Q&A
11.30 Break
11.45 Relationship as the source of both disorder and healing
12.30 Q&A
13.00 End
CONTENT LEVEL
- Intermediate
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Discover Masterson as a leading, originating figure in the major psychoanalytic shift in focus from repressed desires and symptoms to relationship and the self.
- Discuss how Masterson’s integrative approach drew from the evolving work of Kernberg, Kohut, and Fairbairn to include borderline, narcissistic, and schizoid personality disorders.
- Explore the possibility that personality disorders may follow a developmental process of their own.
- Discuss the idea that pathology is a “normal process gone awry”.
- Apply Masteron’s original method of treatment to work with “borderline” patients.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychotherapists
- Addiction Professionals
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Psychiatrists
- Other related mental health professions.
BOOKING CONDITIONS
Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:
- You cancel in writing to info@conferonline.org 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@conferonline.org 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 canceled 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.