Postgraduate Course in Personality Disorders with Lorna Smith Benjamin Phd, ABPP, FDHC
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Postgraduate Course in Personality Disorders with Lorna Smith Benjamin PhD, ABPP, FDHC 3 month intensive course 1 "Benjamin's work signifies a quantum advance in interpersonal thinking regarding therapy for the personality disorders." Theodore Millon, PhD, DSc 2 Why this course? This course presents a unique opportunity for those who wish to gain specialized training in personality disorders, as well as top quality training in psychotherapy in general. The uniqueness of this course lies, among others, in that participants will have the opportunity to learn by the side of a leading figure in the field: Lorna Smith Benjamin PhD, ABPP, FDHC. Quoting from another master figure in the area of personality, Theodore Millon PhD, DSc "Benjamin's work signifies a quantum advance in interpersonal thinking regarding therapy for the personality disorders." After a lifetime dedicated to research and clinical practice and having worked with as important figures as Harry Harlow, Carl Rogers, Carl Whitaker and John Bowlby, Dr. Benjamin presents a unifying, yet groundbreaking theory of personality disorders with vital implications for the clinical practice. In this course, offered for the first time in Europe, participants will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the theory and practice of psychotherapy in general and of personality disorders specifically, integrate the most important ideas and contributions to the field, go as far as the borders of today's scientific knowledge and see beyond. On a practical level, they will be introduced to one of the most effective and integrative methodologies for diagnosis and treatment and will acquire skills and resources that will help them resolve some of the most recurrent and challenging issues in the clinical practice. The training will take place within an international environment at one of the most prestigious centres of psychology in Spain: Hestia International Psychotherapy and Training Centre. 3 Why Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy? Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT) is an innovative and integrative approach that connects scientific knowledge from a wide range of fields, providing an in-depth explanation of the factors that give rise to mental health and mental illness. The guidelines are founded on an attachment-based natural biological model of psychopathology enriched by Primatology, Developmental Psychology, Neuroanatomy and Chemistry. At the same time, it encompasses and integrates theory and fundamental ideas from the main schools of psychotherapy such as the humanistic, cognitive behavioural, psychodynamic and systemic. IRT includes a case formulation model that specifically addresses each of an individual’s presenting symptoms even in complex cases (e.g. comorbid anger, anxiety, depression, disordered personality patterns). It identifies psychosocial mechanisms for an individual’s symptoms by using an attachment-based theory of affective psychopathology. The case formulation model is used to select interventions from any known therapy approach to activate mechanisms of change to optimize outcome. This method is reliable, specific and sensitive (Critchfield and Benjamin, 2007, 2010; Critchfield, Benjamin & Levenick, 2015). Clinical observations suggest the IRT treatment model is effective with standard outpatients, while formal data from a small sample of very challenging cases (CORDS: Comorbid, Often Re-hospitalized, Dysfunctional and Suicidal) suggest that patients with IRT trainee therapists who focused more consistently on mechanisms of change in an adherent way had better outcomes1. What is SASB? Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB) is a tool that assesses interpersonal and intrapsychic behaviour in three different dimensions, providing a lens which helps sharpen the clinician’s perception of content and process in psychotherapy (Benjamin et al., 2006). Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT) uses this powerful resource to identify and clarify interactive patterns, enhancing therapists’ ability to choose the most appropriate intervention. ¹ This strategy of testing effectiveness by relating activation of mechanisms of symptom to symptom- change presently is favoured at National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH, 2016). One advantage of this strategy compared to Randomize Control Trial tests of effectiveness is that it provides direct rather than indirect evidence that use of the theory of change actually does relate to outcome and it also can account every individual in the sample. 4 More about the course The Postgraduate Course in Personality Disorders is a three month intensive course that aims to provide: • a deep and comprehensive understanding of psychotherapy and psychopathology, with an emphasis on personality disorders; • an integrative, multi-dimensional theoretical framework; • an advanced interpersonal model of therapy for personality disorders; • theoretical and practical tools for appropriate intervention: what to do, for whom, when and how; • the ability to detect interpersonal and intrapsychic patterns that give rise to and reinforce symptomatic behaviours; • the ability to resolve the problem of overlap among diagnostic categories; • the ability to predict problems that are likely to occur in the therapeutic relationship; • a broad knowledge of evidence based and empirical research in the field of personality disorders; • greater insight and awareness of oneself in the practitioner's role. The course includes training in use of the highly reliable and valid Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB; Benjamin, 1978; 1996/2003) to recognize patterns and formally link the past and present. Who is it for? Psychology graduates, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists and mental health practitioners, who wish to receive high quality training in psychotherapy and incorporate powerful tools in their practice. 5 Who is Lorna Smith Benjamin? Lorna Smith Benjamin, PhD, ABPP, FDHC, is former President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR); creator of Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB), an observational as well as self-rating method of assessing interpersonal and intrapsychic patterns. Professor emeritus of Psychology and adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah, she continues to teach part-time at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute and has maintained her clinical practice to this date. Dr. Benjamin was an advisor to the DSM-IV task force that defined personality disorders and is a co-author of the Wisconsin Personality Disorders Inventory (WISPI) as well as the American Psychiatric Association’s Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis according to DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID -II). A STEP AWAY FROM HARRY HARLOW, JOHN BOWLBY, CARL WHITAKER AND CARL ROGERS Dr. Benjamin’s contribution to the field of psychotherapy as a theorist, researcher and clinician has been significant. By her side, one is just a step away from fundamental contributors to important schools of psycho- therapy. She has worked with John Bowlby, Harry Harlow, Carl Rogers and Carl Whitaker and they have directly influenced her work and research. Her doctoral dissertation with Harry Harlow and her work at his laboratory reflects her lasting interest in studying clinical phenomena using perspectives and methods of basic science. 6 Lorna Smith Benjamin PhD, ABPP, FDHC ACADEMIC HISTORY: Lorna Smith Benjamin, PhD, ABPP, FDHC received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, and her PhD in Psychology in 1960 from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, specializing in Learning Theory, Psychophysiology and Mathematical Statistics. Her dissertation was with Harry Harlow and principles based on Attachment and Primatology have framed her research and practice. Her clinical internship and postdoctoral training were in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. There, she progressed from postdoctoral fellow to full professor, and taught Psychotherapy to psychiatry residents and psychology interns until she left in 1988 to go to the University of Utah, Department of Psychology. In 2012, she retired from her positions as Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Founder of the Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy (IRT) Clinic at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI). She continues to practice, teach, write and work with the IRT clinic research data. Her methodological contributions include: statistics papers; Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB) and Interpersonal Recon- structive Therapy (IRT). Recently, she has proposed a version of Natural Biology that explains psychopathology in a way that clearly guides clinicians in activating mechanisms of change during psychotherapy, especially useful with cases that have been nonrespon- sive. An advisor to the workgroup on personality disorders for the DSM-IV, a consulting editor to two journals (Psychiatry; and Journal of Personality Disorders), her books include: • Benjamin, L. S. (1996/2003). Interpersonal diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders. N.Y. Guilford Press. • Benjamin, L. S. (2003/2006). Interpersonal Reconstructive Therapy: an integrative personality based treatment for complex cases. N.Y. Guilford Press. • Benjamin, L. S. IRT for Anger, Anxiety and Depression: it is about broken hearts, not broken brains, (in press, American Psychological Association). Her honours include Distinguished Research Career Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR);