NEWSLETTER OF THE YEARS AMERICAN GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL BOARD FOR CERTIFICATION OF GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPISTS Summer 2017 groupcircle The Use of the Training Group in Educating and Maintaining the Group Therapist: An Interview with Elliot Zeisel PhD, LCSW, CGP, DFAGPA Lisa Mahon, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, Co-Chair, Institute Committee Editor’s Note: Elliot Zeisel PhD, LCSW, CGP, DFAGPA, will present one of from the two Special Institutes at AGPA’s 2018 Annual Meeting, to be held February 26–March 3 in Houston, Texas. Dr. Zeisel has served on the Boards of president Directors of AGPA, the Group Foundation for Advancing Mental Health, and the International Board for Certification of Group Psychotherapists. A founding member of the Center for Group Studies, Dr. Zeisel is also on Eleanor Counselman, EdD, CGP, LFAGPA the faculty at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies. An honorary member of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis, he has lectured on Once again, it’s summer! Gardens are growing, and various aspects of analytic group therapy both nationally and abroad. conversations turn to vacation plans. It has been a cold and rainy spring in New England, but I have faith that LM: What is the title and topic of your Special ropean immigrants who mastered the English language. the sun will come out eventually and the rhythms of the year proceed. AGPA continues with its annual rhythm Institute? I entered group as an emotional immigrant into a more too. A productive Spring Planning Meeting for the EZ: During my one-day Special Institute—The Use diverse world than the one I came from. I wanted to of the Training Group in Educating and Maintaining the Annual Meeting was held in May, chaired by Martha master a new language of emotion that better connected Gilmore, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, and Alexis Abernethy, Group Therapist—we will explore the role of the train- me to myself and that wider world. On Monday morning PhD, CGP, FAGPA, Annual Meeting Co-Chairs. They ing group in the education and maintenance of group of each week, I attended group and remained a member were joined by Annual Meeting Co-Chair Designate clinicians. The training group, like other psychodynamic for 24 years. At some point, I added a training group Katie Steele, PhD, CGP, FAGPA. groups, invites exploration of intra-psychic and interper- with my therapist on Fridays, so my week was bracketed The timely theme for the 2018 Annual Meeting is The sonal process. Additionally, I will encourage examina- by immersion in group. Group therapy taught me the Healing Power of Groups in a Fragmented World. The tion of case material and encourage the integration of language of emotion, and while the training group re- meeting will be held February 26-March 3 in Houston, verbal techniques and group leadership skills. inforced that experience, it also taught me the art and Texas. Committee members have reviewed many LM: How did you get interested in this topic? craft of effective group leadership. proposals, and as always, the program will have a marvel- ous array of offerings. The two Special Institute Presen- EZ: I entered a treatment group at age 24, during LM: What will you cover in your Special tations will be led by Elliot Zeisel, PhD, LCSW, CGP, my first year of graduate school, in search of love and Institute? DFAGPA, and Peter Fonagy, PhD. Plenary Speakers freedom from depression. I knew very little about life EZ: We have a great written body of theoretical are Elizabeth Knight, MSW, CGP, DFAGPA, (Institute outside of the rural, modern Orthodox Jewish commu- work and we have an oral tradition that transmits the Plenary Address), David Allen, MD, MPH, (Mitchell nity in which I was reared, but as a child of the ‘60s, work experientially. Throughout the day, concise theo- Hochberg Memorial Public Education Event), and Pat I was determined to live a life of meaning. Individual retical talks will be followed by a series of demonstration Ogden, PhD (Conference Opening Plenary Session). analysis and group treatment became my passport to groups. The audience will then be invited into a ques- Barry Helfmann, PsyD, CGP, DLFAGPA, will give his freedom. My grandparents and father were Eastern Eu- tion-and-answer exchange, where theory will be relat- Anne and Ramon Alonso Presidential Plenary Address Continued on page 3 on Friday morning. As always, the Annual Meeting provides many and varied institutes, open sessions, workshops, colloquia, SIG meetings, the Friday night The Technique of Mentalization-Based dance, and Saturday Foundation luncheon. The 75th Anniversary Celebration Continues Treatment for Severe Personality Disorder: Although the 2017 Annual Meeting was our official 75th An Interview with Peter Fonagy, PhD Anniversary party, we are celebrating our 75th Anniver- sary throughout the year. If you have not yet read the Arnold Cohen, PhD, CGP, Co-Chair, Institute Committee online extra issue of the International Journal of Group Editor’s Note: Peter Fonagy, PhD, will present a Special Institute at AGPA’s 2018 Psychotherapy that was created in honor of this special Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, on The Technique of Mentalization-Based year, I urge you to do so. It is a remarkable reflection Treatment for Severe Personality Disorders. Dr. Fonagy is Head of the Research on 75 years of group psychotherapy. In addition, a very Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology and Professor of interesting history of AGPA’s most recent 25 years will Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science, University College, appear soon on our website. Many of the audio record- London. He currently serves as Senior Investigator, British National Institute ings of the 2017 Annual Meeting are now available in for Health Research; Visiting Clinical Professor, Harvard University; and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University, School of Medicine. The recipient of more Continued on page 2 than 50 research grants, he is author or co-author of 16 books, more than 200 book chapters, and nearly 400 original papers. With Anthony Bateman, MA, FRCPsych, he regularly runs training courses in Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, where he also serves as CEO. what’s inside AC: How did you get interested in Mentalization- capacity of individuals with severe personality disorder From the Editor 2 Based Treatment for severe personality to understand and process complex explanations involv- In Memoriam 3 disorders? ing the language of mental states is limited. Further, the PF: Psychotherapy for personality disorder (PD) has intensification of attachment to a therapist may under- Research Matters 4 a complex history. Arguably, many attempts at offering mine rather than facilitate an individual’s capacity to un- Group Assets Insert help to these patients have resulted in a deterioration derstand and appropriately respond to mental state lan- in their condition rather than generating the expected guage. This general framework has given rise to a highly Member News 5 improvement. We have gradually evolved a technique productive therapeutic approach with an emphasis on Consultation, Please 7 that minimizes iatrogenesis based on the notion that the mentalizing. The overall aim is to strengthen individu- Continued on next page 1 THE TECHNIQUE OF MENTALIZATION-BASED TREATMENT Continued from page 1 al capacities for envisioning mental states, both in the self and in others. At the beginning of this journey, our target group were those with borderline personality dis- “MBT approaches are particularly editor order. As our approach has become more established, relevant for group work with we have become increasingly interested in working with individuals with other conditions within the category quite diverse clinical populations. from the of PD, particularly antisocial PD, but also other diag- The Special Institute will offer the nostic groups where mentalizing problems were readily opportunity to explore the extent observed (e.g., severe depression, eating disorders, and substance use disorder). to which enhancing mentalization may be a legitimate aim for group AC: What do you expect to cover in your Steve Van Wagoner, PhD, CGP, FAGPA Special Institute? psychotherapy.” At this writing, summer has arrived with a vengeance. PF: I anticipate covering a basic introduction to Keeping the garden healthy in this heat has been quite Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT), including attachment as a state that is only peripherally linked to a challenge, but so far so good. Usually the summer the therapist’s stance, recognizing and addressing mentalizing. At the heart of MBT is the need to identify issue of the Group Circle requires some hustle on my inadequate mentalizing, and enhancing mentalizing individuals with whom one can trust; this decision is made part to get people to write, but this year has been quite in the context of psychosocial treatment. I intend to by individuals on the basis of subtle interactional cues the exception. keep the Special Institute almost entirely practical. of which infant research and other develomental work Although much has been written about mentalizing as a The 2018 Annual Meeting, although many months continues to inform us. Communication studies inform theoretical framework, in this context I intend to focus away, is already in the works, reflecting the amazing attachment research, but attachment remains a critical on technique. Ideally, I would like to have participants efforts of the Workshop, Open Session, and Institute component of ensuring interpersonal influence. The trust roleplay patients with whom they are working who have Committees. To whet your appetites, we have two we have in the information we receive from others is a a severe personality disorder; this would give me a chance interviews with the Special Institute presenters— key marker of the efficiency of knowledge transmission to demonstrate how we work with these conditions.