FORS THE FLORIDA ORGANIZATION FOR RELATIONAL STUDIES
A chapter of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association presents a free introductory level workshop for interested persons
RELATIONAL ANALYSIS 101:
“What is going on in the client? What is going on in the therapist?
What is each stimulating and responding to in the other?”
Bill Player, Ph.D.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 – 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
“Casa de La Noche,” Órganos 19, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Workshop participants will explore recent advances in the theory and practice of
psychoanalytically informed therapies. Post-Freudian relational theory has turned the old
psychoanalysis upside down, resulting in major changes in how a contemporary analysis is
conducted and understood. Gone are the days of the silent, emotionally detached analyst invisible
to reclining patients free-associating from his couch. Client and relational analyst now
sit face-to-face. Today’s analyst is a fully engaged participant in a two-person dialogue.
What to Expect Workshop participants will discover through direct experience deeper meanings to the concepts,
presented in this brochure, as they are brought to life through discussion, demonstration, role-playing and interactive exercises.
One and Two-Person Therapies – In Classical Freudian psychoanalysis, the subject of therapeutic exploration was the internal world of one person, the patient. Analysts fully believed they could examine that world from an emotionally neutral position without influencing or otherwise affecting it. We now refer to this dated approach as a “one-person” therapy. In contemporary relational analysis, a “two-person” therapy, the developing relationship between client and therapist has become the fulcrum of analytic exploration.
Empathy and Otherness – Relational therapists attempt not only to understand their patients but, through empathic
resonance feel their way into their client’s experience. The therapist, when empathically attuned, is experienced as
providing a safe and emotionally nourishing environment that makes possible a resurgence of previously arrested
development. As therapy progresses the analyst is experienced increasingly as a new and separate (other) person with whom an interchange of interactive communication stimulates further growth.
Internalized Organizing Principles – As children, we all attribute subjective meanings to our experiences with others.
Over time we learn what to expect and how to react by creating and internalizing organizing principles that give specific meanings to the most subtle of cues provided in the course of interactions with others. These “invariant internalized organizing principles” are usually out of awareness in adults, and are a major subject of relational analysis.
Subjective vs Objective Reality – During childhood, each person develops a unique set of organizing principles. This
results in everybody having his or her own special take on what is real and on how things are remembered. Individualstend to believe beyond doubt that they know the objective truth about what happened, what was said previously, etc. Thus, conversations often devolve into arguments about which party remembers correctly what actually occurred. However, as members of any dyad come to grips with the fact that no one has access to a transcendent, objective truth, they are well on the road to more harmonious and gratifying communication and vastly improved relationships. RSVP – If you plan to attend, please contact Barbara Poole, cosponsor and proprietor of Casa de la Noche at www.CasaDeLaNoche.com. It’s a perfect place to stay for this event, or any time you are in San Miguel de Allende.
Schedule
8:30 am Registration and Coffee
9:00 am Relational Analysis 101: presentation of theory, demonstration and discussion
10:30 am 30 minute break
11:00 am Presentation, demonstration and discussion, continued
12:15 pm Conclusion of discussion, summary remarks
12:30 pm Completion of program; evaluations turned in, certificates of attendance distributed
Educational Objectives After attending this introductory level program in full, participants will be able to:
• Describe how a client can internalize the therapist’s empathic listening stance in ways that will improve other
relationships.
• Describe how the empathically attuned therapist can also be fully engaged as a separate human being when
providing individual, couples or group therapy.
• Describe how human beings have multiple aspects of self, some in awareness and some not, some in conflict with
one another, some disowned and some working together in harmony.
• Describe how various aspects of both patient and therapist may be available or unavailable to awareness at a given
moment in time, but in all cases affecting communication.
• Explain how certain aspects of self may be disavowed, projected into others, and then struggled with as an evil
outside rather than within the self.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Bill Player is a psychologist and psychoanalytically informed therapist, licensed in New York and Florida. He is in
private practice in Winter Park, Florida where he provides individual, couple and group therapy. He is available to
provide training for mental health professionals and consultations for couples and individuals in other locations
including San Miguel de Allende. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at New York University, and has four
years of postdoctoral training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. He has more than thirty years of clinical experience
and is founder and a former president and board member of FORS.
Workshop Fees:
There will be no charges to attend this workshop. However, individuals, who wish to, may make a contribution to FORS.
Participants: This workshop is open persons interested in contemporary relational analysis. This program will be conducted entirely in English. Please address any questions or concerns to Angela Williams, Education Coordinator She can be reached at: awpacifica@gmail.com.
FORS Contact: FORS and Division 39 are committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American
Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. If you have concerns about program content or other issues,
please contact Angela Williams, Education Coordinator at: awpacifica@gmail.com.
RSVP: As space for this workshop at Casa de la Noche is limited,
please contact Dr. Player
by e-mail: woplayer@aol.com
or by phone
from Mexico: 001-407-740-8080
or from US: 407-740-8080
or, for information regarding Casa de la Noche,
the venue for this workshop, and a great place
to stay when visiting San Miguel de Allende,
please contact Barbara Poole through
her website: www.casadelanoche.com