Psychotherapy of the Disorders of The Self

 

INTERNATIONAL MASTERSON INSTITUTE
WEST COAST USA
PRESENTS AS PART OF THEIR 2016 ONLINE POSTGRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM

PSYCHOTHERAPY OF THE DISORDERS OF SELF 

INTRODUCTORY COURSES
FEBRUARY – MAY 2016
• Relational Trauma: Developing the “Capacity for Intimacy”
• The Psychotherapy of the Borderline Disorder of Self
• The Psychotherapy of the Narcissistic Disorder of self
COURSE DETAILS
• Each course one hour per week for sixteen weeks, commencing February 2016.
• Courses conducted online using high quality technology.
• Small group size ensures face to face clinical learning in a confidential setting.
• Courses run by USA based Faculty who have been trained by internationally
acknowledged experts in the field of “disorders of self”.
• Faculty have decades of experience in an empirically tested/clinically verified
treatment model for “disorders of self”.


In affiliation with Affiliated with IMI
INTERNATIONAL MASTERSON INSTITUTE 
WEST COAST

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

RELATIONAL TRAUMA: DEVELOPING THE “CAPACITY FOR INTIMACY”
It has been estimated that, regardless of the initial presenting problem, more than half of clients in private 
psychotherapy practice come for help because of a history of complex (repetitive and cumulative) childhood 
trauma, or a single overwhelmingly traumatic life event, or because of an underlying personality disorder 
following the relational trauma of insecure attachment.

How do experienced clinicians separate the unique neurobiological consequences of trauma, from the distinctly 
different treatment needs required by those with a characterologically disordered “sense of self”? How does one 
work with either, when a client’s impaired capacity for intimacy and trust disrupts the potential for a healthy
therapeutic relationship? And most importantly, how does one avoid the risks of retraumatisation in a managedcare 
context that only allows for short-term intervention?

This sixteen-week course will be of vital interest to clinicians who wish to expand their skill base and therapeutic 
practice by deepening their understanding of how to engage and work therapeutically with this client 
population; and will especially interest those clinicians who wish to learn more about the interface between
complex trauma and the personality disorders.

PSYCHOTHERAPY OF THE BORDERLINE DISORDER OF SELF
In order to effectively treat “borderline” pathology, we believe that skilled clinicians need to look beyond 
descriptive symptomotology (DSM 5) to the heart of the matter: the developmental arrest of the patient’s 
real self.

The theoretical view offered in this introductory course, based on Object Relations, Self, Developmental 
(attachment) theory and Neurobiology, is that patients’ symptoms arise in response to an unconscious 
developmental depression which blocks the emergence of the real self. 
This sixteen week course has been designed for clinicians who are seeking to understand: differential 
diagnosis, how to recognize and contain “acting out”, how to differentiate the patient’s real self/ maladaptive 
defensive false self, and how to facilitate the working through of the underlying developmental depression.

PSYCHOTHERAPY OF THE NARCISSISTIC DISORDER OF SELF
How can you be an effective therapist with the patient who is intensely perfectionistic – and expects perfect 
mirroring from you? Who lets you know, no matter how hard you try, that everything you say is disappointing, 
or wrong, or misattuned? Is therapeutic attunement to patient’s responses to your failures “enough” to heal 
the vicissitudes of narcissistic pathology?

A Self and Object Relations approach to narcissistic pathology sees narcissistic “pathology” as a consequence 
of a developmental arrest of the patient’s real self, anchored by the affects of an unconscious developmental 
depression. This sixteen week introductory course will be of interest to all clinicians who wish to deepen and
expand clinical knowledge and skill in working with this challenging population.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
info@disordersofself.training
www.disordersofself.com
COST
Each course will cost $600.00 (GST incl).
CPD Points will be available. In affiliation with
INTERNATIONAL MASTERSON INSTITUTE
WEST COAST