"I am delighted to inform you that following a collaboration between BACP and the University of Sheffield an academic paper has been published in BMC Psychiatry which explores the comparative effectiveness and efficiency of counselling and CBT in IAPT. The paper is free to access, and the link is at the end of the summary [...]
CPD Training Days with Morit Heitzler These workshops are designed for practising counsellors and therapists who have some previous training and experience with trauma work. They might best be described as 'intermediate' workshops, for therapists who have completed basic training in one of the modern trauma therapies: Somatic Trauma Therapy (Babette Rothschild), Somatic Experiencing [...]
The Tavistock Adult Depression Study has produced good evidence about the value of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for patients with chronic treatment-resistant depressions - a significant mental disorder. For those who believe in psycho-analysis, to submit it to an RCT can seem like the kind of trial that Kierkegaard saw in the Old Testament story of Abraham’s [...]
This is a much expanded and updated version of an earlier post two years ago - I have now also added a resource section at the bottom, with commentaries on useful books. I've been doing this work in preparation for the CPD weekend “Working at the Edge of Chaos” on 29 & 30 April 2017 [...]
For the leaflet in Greek, please scroll to the bottom of this page ... Engaging with therapeutic impasses, breakdowns and stuckness by integrating non-verbal communication, somatic processes and ‘implicit relational knowing’ “How can we use our own embodied awareness and our perception of the client's bodymind to maximise our understanding of the intersubjective dynamics in [...]
As we are just planning and thinking about Morit’s forthcoming CPD workshops on integrative trauma therapy, this topic is currently at the forefront of our minds, so I'm sharing it with you. There is a wide spectrum of opinion as to what role working with the transference plays in trauma work. I believe that the [...]
This is a sweet and interesting book, with an obviously attractive title (well - attractive to me!), written as an autobiographical look back over his professional life as a therapist by the 80-year-old George Steinfeld. It is exceptional in its honesty, and it pulls no punches about delivering some uncomfortable home truths about this profession [...]
Many of you know that I am planning to take off the spring term of 2017 in order to start writing a book. There are several books I have in my mind which I think deserve to be written[1]. But as I have previously struggled when writing longer pieces like that, for my first book [...]
Are these workshops for me? These workshops are designed for practising counsellors and therapists who have some previous training and experience with trauma work. They might best be described as ‘intermediate’ workshops, for therapists who have completed basic training in one of the modern trauma therapies (like Somatic Trauma Therapy (Babette Rothschild), Somatic Experiencing [...]
This weekend CPD group, organised by experienced TA therapist Judy Shaw in Devon around Exeter, will run over 4 weekends during 2017, with 2 weekends led by Nick Totton and 2 by Michael Soth. The weekends will take place at Judy's place in Offwell near Honiton. Dates for 2017 March 25/26: Nick June 3/4: Michael [...]
Over the last 15 years or so, relational perspectives have had a significant impact across the field of psychotherapy. However, the wider its increasing influence has spread, the less clear it has become what we actually mean by ‘relational’. The default common denominator would be the recognition that in therapy it's the relationship between client [...]
Part 1: Integrating ideas on relational stances from Gomez, Stark & Clarkson Introduction: Clarkson’s seminal contribution I sometimes get asked why I put such emphasis in my teaching on relational modalities - an idea first formulated in a paper by Petruska Clarkson in 1990. Because it is such a well-known model, that has formed the [...]
Michael Soth: European Congress of Body Psychotherapy: the Embodied Self in a dis-Embodied Society: A presentation proposal A presentation addressing the shadow aspects of this central theoretical model of our tradition Character Structure theory is a central element of Body Psychotherapy, building on Reich’s monumental achievement to bring together biology and psychology through his notion [...]
(from my chapter "Transference, Countertransference and Supervision in the Body Psychotherapy tradition" in: The Handbook of Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology) I have been asked a few times for a brief summary regarding relationality in Body Psychotherapy - here's a very condensed paragraph from the above chapter: A Multiplicity of Relational Modalities in [...]
European Congress of Body Psychotherapy: the Embodied Self in a dis-Embodied Society: A keynote proposal This keynote proposal aims at re-defining and refining our notion of ‘embodiment’ in non-polarising terms that are actually helpful in transcending Cartesian dualism As the title of our conference suggests, Body Psychotherapy has always found itself in a counter-cultural position, [...]
Listen to 'In Therapy' with Susie Orbach: 5 episodes (15 minutes each) "Psychotherapist Susie Orbach explores the private relationship between therapist and patient. We join Susie in her consulting room, where she meets a different client each day. All of the clients are played by actors, but these are not scripted scenes. Each client [...]
An important report has been published on the state of mental health in the UK - based upon the taskforce that has been working on it consulting widely with all the stakeholders in the system (except maybe those of us working in private practice who don't seem to have contributed much). This included a survey [...]
The 'IAallPT' project: towards a multi-disciplinary, multi-modality mental health and well-being service How can we make a broad-spectrum therapeutic response accessible and available to the community? A year ago, after much preparation, my colleague Justin Smith initiated the Oxfordshire Therapy & Self-Development Centre (OTS). Now, in 2016, we have a vibrant and growing community of [...]
Sat in the waiting room of the clinic, wide-eyed big-haired and spindly-limbed, David’s anxiety was a presenting feature, most apparent in the firmness with which he was pressing the palms of his hands into his thighs, giving me the impression that his legs would shake furiously otherwise. Despite being fashionably well-dressed, he seemed [...]
Workshop on “How to ‘use’ the countertransference” for the Israeli Association of Body Psychotherapy on 30th of December in Kfar Sava, Israel: http://ilabp2013.wix.com/micheal-soth (in English, with translation into Hebrew by Morit Heitzler)
