Harold Searles has died - see obituary and commentaries on this visionary psychoanalyst. There is also a piece of writing by a psychoanalyst who herself was in analysis with Searles, and describes it in glowing terms, revealing both the limitations of the sub-cultural context of the discipline at the time as well as glimpses of [...]
Martha Stark (1999) “Modes of Therapeutic Action” A summary of the introductory chapter to the book, with commentary and critique by Michael Soth © 2015 I have been using Martha Stark’s book “Modes of Therapeutic Action” for some time as one of the main texts for exploring the fundamental ideas and principles of the relational [...]
The European Association for Body Psychotherapy Conference - EABP 2016 Athens, Greece The Embodied Self in a Dis-embodied Society For further info: www.eabp.org
The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Conference - IARPP 2016 ROME, ITALY The Arts of Time: Relational Psychoanalysis and Forms of Vitality in Clinical Process In these recent years psychoanalysis has been dealing more and more with the exploration of the therapeutic process and the implicit dimension of the clinical exchange. A relational [...]
Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration: International Conference The Therapist in Integrative Therapy: Implications for Practice, Research, and Training Continuing with SEPI´s goal to expand and enrich our mission of promoting innovative applications of integrative psychotherapy, the major theme for our 2016 meeting will address the topic of the therapist, with its numerous practice, [...]
Here is a highly recommended video of Mark Solms’ presentation at the NYSPA’s Fall Conference: Neurosciences and Psychoanalysis: From Early Freud to Contemporary Practice held on October 4, 2015. The title of the presentation is: “If the Id is conscious, where and what is ‘the unconscious’?” Whilst we might find some arguments with what he's [...]
This weekend CPD group, organised by experienced TA therapist Judy Shaw in Devon around Exeter, will run over 4 weekends during 2016, with 2 weekends led by Nick Totton and 2 by Michael Soth. There will be two venues: the East Down Centre in Dunsford and Judy's place in Offwell near Honiton. There will be [...]
Embodied Pathways Towards Resolving Impasses, Breakdowns and Enactments This is a workshop I have been running over recent years, in different places, for different audiences, for therapists from across the approaches and modalities. It introduces the underestimated complexities and paradoxes of the working alliance in an accessible way, drawing attention to the rupture-and-repair cycles that [...]
This group is for experienced therapists only (practising for 10 years or more), and has had a consistent core group of participants for the last few years (since 2012), meeting 6 days per year, usually for a whole weekend (10.00 - 17.00 both Saturday & Sunday). There is a 'pool' of currently 12 participants, and [...]
A broad-spectrum integrative, embodied & relational group for counsellors and psychotherapists from across the therapeutic approaches and modalities - with Michael Soth About the format the group This group has been ongoing since 2015, at a frequency about 4 or 5 days per year. It is semi-closed, to allow for continuity and group cohesion. That [...]
Edited by Gustl Marlock and Halko Weiss with Courtenay Young and Michael Soth This global Handbook of Body Psychotherapy has been many years in the making, and is now due to be published in December 2015. You can get a 30% discount ($69.99 rather than $99.99) by ordering that book directly from North Atlantic Books. I spent [...]
PsycheVisual presents Video by Adrienne Margarian on Somatic Countertransference In this short video extract from her lecture, Adrienne Margarian summarises her thinking on somatic countertransference, refers to her research and gives a couple of clinical examples. A significant aspect of her research is the cross-cultural dimension - she confirms that somatic countertransference this significant in different cultural contexts, both [...]
Shaun Gallagher: "4E cognition in therapeutic settings" (4E = embodied, embedded, enactive, extended) Shaun's presentation in PDF format ‘Embodied Intersubjectivity’ – Preparatory Notes by Michael Soth Questions inherent in our theme ‘Embodied Intersubjectivity’ What are our ideas/concepts of ‘mind’ and how two ‘minds’ understand each other and relate? What [...]
What are the emotional/psychological factors that limit a thriving practice for therapists (and helping professionals generally)? Preparatory considerations for workshop in Brighton on 4 July 2015. Most workshops for therapists on this topic of making a living focus on the actual business skills needed, or on your own ambivalence about charging money (self-worth). The [...]
In response to a question by Larry Josephs in the context of the IARPP colloquium on: “The Body as Experience, The Body as Experiencer: A Multi-Perspectival Conversation” – Author: Steven Knoblauch (May 11 - May 24 , 2015) Larry Josephs: “In body work, how is countertransferential enactment worked through? What if the way in which [...]
Questions inherent in our theme ‘Embodied Intersubjectivity’ What are our ideas/concepts of ‘mind’ and how two ‘minds’ understand each other and relate? What notion of ‘mind’ is implicit in our practice and in our way of being and thinking? What role does our bodily experience play in our ‘mind’ process? What are our [...]
Preparations for the Conference In a conference dedicated to conceptual clarification with the help of a philosopher, I thought we better make sure that we’ve got our terms straight, and that we all know what we’re talking about. Therefore, in the build-up to the conference, I wanted to prepare the [...]
Morit Heitzler will soon be running a workshop in Oxford on the topic of "The therapist's habitual position". Traditionally, when we describe a therapist's way of working, we think about theory and technique: what kind of concepts, models and theoretical framework underpins the approach? and what kind of interventions and therapeutic responses flow from this? [...]
Sun 26 Apr 2015, 10.00 am to 5.00 pm; Birkbeck College, London Keynote: Prof. Shaun Gallagher With Panelists: Susie Orbach, Nick Totton, Werner Prall, Birgit Heuer & Jean Knox Chair: Michael Soth The notions of 'embodiment' and 'intersubjectivity' are central to the therapeutic relationship and to modern notions of relationality. However, these notions [...]
The following piece was written in preparation for a training day on “First Sessions and Initial Assessments and Dilemmas”. The tension between (inter)subjective and objective aspects of the assessment encounter Whether it is an assessment at school, university or at work, or by a medical specialist or other expert, one question - running alongside the [...]
