Programas de Formación y Talleres
de Psicoterapia Integrativa

Shame, internal criticism, and relational withdrawal are core compo-nents of a “schizoid process”. This internal process of fragmenting the Self can be present, yet unrecognized, in the psychotherapy of many clients where Shame is a protective dynamic to avoid vulnerability, humiliation, and the loss of contact-in-relationship with others. The compounded and contin-ual reinforcement of the core Script Belief ‘something is wrong with me’ pre-sents the therapist with complex challenges. Often clients withdraw into a protective internal space that requires a sensitive attunement to their private experience.

In this 3-session Zoom Seminar Richard Erskine will not only teach about the therapeutic significance of Shame, he will also explore the theory of the Schizoid Process and how it may relate to some of your clients who are depressed, shy, suffer from internal criticism, or fear intimate relation-ships.

Dr. Erskine will illustrate the self-stabilizing process of internal-splitting, the various forms of the Self, the dynamics of compliance and withdrawal, alternating attachment patterns, the function of internal-criticism, and the therapeutic methods required for working with each part of the Self.
Working with individuals for whom internal criticism and shame are primary ways of organizing their emotional experience and who engage in a Schizoid Process as an ongoing coping mechanism, it is essential that the psychotherapist has an understanding of the client’s phenomenological ex-perience and patience with the client’s difficulty in voicing their internal sen-sations and feelings. Such clients require a psychotherapist who is consist-ently attuned to their various affective states.

At this workshop, Dr. Richard Erskine will make use of PowerPoint illustrations and formal teaching as well as engaging the participants in dis-cussions of their therapy cases in order to explore the dynamics of shame, internal criticism, confusion and relational withdrawal. Various methods of a Relational Approach to Psychotherapy will be emphasized.