CPD for Therapists

The schizoid experience basically involves a failure in the attachment process.  The Hated or Unwanted Child essentially perceived or experienced their earliest life, in the womb and beyond, as a hostile reception where they were rejected not just in their own nature and humanity, but for existing at all.   The child felt threatened and unsafe, and may have wanted to die rather than continue in life.   As a result a person with a Schizoid adaptation has significant attachment issues particularly around trust and intimacy, they are withdrawn and passive, with a self that is perceived as damaged, perhaps defective or evil.  They are shy and overly sensitive, and often described as eccentric or strange because they live in their own world and rarely respond to the feelings of others.

Therapy with this character can be challenging.  Typically issues involving the client avoiding contact with the therapist, the perception that therapy and the therapist are insignificant, the distrust, the sensitivity to any harshness in the environment, the projection of neglect, hostility, and lack of caring, etc are all part of typical transference.  The therapist’s own reactions to the client’s inability to receive, be intimate or be aware of feelings can be difficult, as well as coping with the deadness and emptiness present in the room.  We will explore these counter transference issues including the experience of being irrelevant to the client and the therapist’s own attachment issues and character structure.  We will also explore the usefulness of various techniques with this type of client--e.g. active vs. receptive techniques, empathy, interpretation, confrontation, therapist differentiation, mutual enactment, etc.

This workshop will enable you to: