The continuous case seminar extends throughout the three-year program. During the course of this seminar, cases in treatment by students will be chosen that present ongoing work with each of the personality disorders. Cases will be supervised in class by a faculty member, and opportunities will exist for class members to offer their comments and contributions regarding the ongoing treatment process.
The extended nature of this class enables students to see the work as it develops across time, and to begin to understand the dynamics of each of the disorders as well as offering candidates a forum in which to assess the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions as they are used in actual clinical cases.
The Continuous Case Conference unit runs for the duration of the three-year training program. This unit provides candidates the opportunity to examine, in-depth, psychotherapeutic process-in-action, as it pertains to diagnosis and treatment of the personality disorders from a Mastersonian perspective.
As the unit name suggests, a clinical case is studied for an extended period (10 sessions) to facilitate reflection on theory and its application in clinical work. Cases chosen for this unit in the first year of training will ideally have bearing on the disorder being addressed in theory classes. The presenting candidate will provide a full outline of their clinical case, using the formal IMI format, and will bring prepared verbatim session transcripts to subsequent sessions.
Class discussion, as group members grapple with diagnostic and treatment considerations, strongly supports the process of internalising understanding of the Masterson Approach. Candidates are encouraged to ask questions for clarification, to reflect together, and to extend viewpoints relevant to the case being presented. Issues explored will include differential diagnosis, choice of therapeutic interventions, therapeutic alliance, stages of psychotherapy, transference and countertransference, and maintaining therapeutic neutrality.
- Facilitator: Carolyn Bankston