Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society

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  • Tennessee Psychological Association: Sandra Buechler, PhD

Tennessee Psychological Association: Sandra Buechler, PhD

  • 05 Nov 2016
  • 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Nashville Airport Marriott

Tennessee Psychological Association 
Annual Convention

Nashville Airport Marriott
600 Marriott Drive
Nashville, TN 37214 

APS members attend for TPA member prices – a significant discount. To receive the discount, print the registration form available at tpaonline.org and mail it in with a check on which you indicate your APS membership. 

 On-line registration is not an option for those who would like to receive the TPA-member registration price.

Friday, November 4, 2016

Mary Ellen Griffin, PhD

"This Patient Is Driving Me Nuts": Making Therapeutic Use of Countertransference

Whereas my 2015 APS presentation was an extensive case presentation, this presentation will be more of an interactive workshop, to accommodate a more diverse audience. Come prepared to talk about your difficult case! 

Empathic inquiry, the cornerstone of psychodynamic psychotherapy, can be difficult when the patient’s way of relating is experienced by the therapist in ways that are difficult-- for the therapist. We sometimes feel bored, angry, alarmed, anxious, distracted, sleepy, torn, disconnected, or otherwise ill at ease with patients. Some patients are difficult for us over time, which may leave us feeling incompetent, stymied, or that we’ve lost perspective. Using our own feelings - our countertransference - to formulate therapeutic interventions with our patients is the hallmark of modern psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Yet even for senior clinicians, thorny countertransference issues arise, and seeking the consultation of trusted peers never ceases to be of value. In this intermediate to advanced psychotherapy seminar, Dr. Griffin will teach Burke and Tansey’s 1989 “Unitary Sequence for Processing Interactional Communications.” Theirs is an exceptionally clear, explicit, and systematic methodology for thinking about and working with countertransference in psychotherapy. This model elucidates what we teach and seek in supervision and consultation, and what we do in our work every day, often subconsciously. Dr. Griffin learned this model from her professor and supervisor at Northwestern, Walter F. Burke. It is a foundation of her own clinical work and teaching.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Two three-hour presentations co-sponsored by APS

Sandra Buechler, PhD

Program 1:

Treating Shame, Grandiosity, 

and Obsessive Dilemmas


Many people who suffer from self esteem issues and obsessive tendencies seek psychotherapy. How do we help them? After describing techniques derived from Interpersonal Theory, this presentation outlines four phases of treatment. Clinical vignettes then illustrate specific ways of working with patients stuck in obsessive preoccupations and self-esteem difficulties.


Program 2:

Joy, Regret, Grief, and Anger

 in Therapy


Psychotherapy arouses strong emotions in both participants. Using theory and clinical vignettes, this presentation explores sources of joy in treatment and the mobilization of joy in our patients’ lives as well as the regrets and fears of regret that often motivate people to seek psychotherapy.  Techniques for working with grief and anger in both participants will be discussed.


For more information, visit the TPA site at TPA.

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