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Program
Overview
The Two-Year Object Relations Theory and Practice core
program provides a concentrated immersion in object
relations theory and therapy at the International
Institute of Object Relations Therapy. This intensive
training program is designed in a modular,
block-training format to accommodate both local
professionals and those who commute to Washington,
D.C. The two-year program consists of two summer
Institutes and eight three-day weekends over two
years.
Summer
Institutes
The summer institute takes place in July or early
August. On even years, the focus is on the integration
of infant studies and object relations theory in
application to clinical work and on the use of
countertransference. On odd years, the program offers
an immersion in Kleinian and British Independent group
theoretical constructs and technical approaches to
psychotherapy. We read Balint, Bion, Bowlby, Guntrip,
Segal, Sutherland, Winnicott and more recent
contributors, Bollas, Casement, Joseph, Mitchell,
Ogden, Tustin, and Scharff and Scharff. The curriculum
is taught by faculty who also lead small group
discussions and by a distinguished visiting fellow
associated with the Tavistock Clinic. The summer
institute is restricted to those who enrol for the two
year program.
Weekend
Conferences
Each weekend features a guest contributor of
international note whose work is at the leading edge
of contemporary object relations theory. Advanced
program participants are encouraged to prepare
themselves as teachers by giving theoretical
discussion papers and clinical presentations. At each
weekend conference, the membership of the large group
of the two-year program is enriched by the addition of
weekend-only registrants who then participate in their
own one-weekend-only small groups and plenary review
meeting.
The
Educational Method
We use an open systems format that derives from object
relations principles. Faculty and students facilitate
each other's growth in an open systems learning format.
We learn together from didactic material and from
experience to integrate cognition and affect, theory
and technique, intrapsychic and interpersonal
dimensions, to examine our own contributions with
integrity, and to value the wisdom and creativity of
the small and large group. The design brings students
and faculty to the shared task of studying basic
concepts in relation to the new ideas of
internationally recognized contributors at the leading
edge of the field. The format includes lecture, case
presentation, video, large group discussion and small
group process, review and integration of the material
at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels.
The
Integrative Task and the Small
Group
The small group meets twice a day during the events of
the two-year program. After their participation in the
large group discussion of the presentations, small
group members meet to integrate their intellectual and
emotional reactions to the material at the individual
and group levels and to apply it to their clinical
situations so as to internalize their new knowledge.
The leader makes a 2-year commitment and the group
retains the same membership over the course of the two
years. Because of this shared commitment to the
integrative task, the group becomes intensely
meaningful to its participants.
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