Formação e Oficinas de Psicoterapia Integrativa
The Healing Relationship - Psychotherapy of Shame, Confusion and Psychological Withdrawal
Richard Erskine, Ph.D.
National Association of Transactional Analysis of Serbia
Shame, confusion and psychological withdrawal are hallmarks of schizoid process, and this process can be present, yet unrecognised in many, even though very highly functioning clients
The term “schizoid” is often not well understood. It means to cut or split. Work of the schizoid process outgrew of consideration of issues related to both dissociation and shame.
Shame and self-righteousness can be viewed as protective dynamics that help avoid vulnerability to humiliation and the loss of contact-in-relationship with others. The compounded and continual reinforcement of the belief ‘something is wrong with me’ presents the therapist with complex challenges which are specific and unique to the psychotherapy of shame.
Unresolved archaic shame and introjected shame potentiate the pain of any current criticism, adding a toxicity to our clients’ reactions. Juxtaposition of the therapist’s inquiry and attunement, with the client’s memory of a lack of interpersonal contact in previous significant relationships, produces intense responses from the client and possible defensive reaction to the interpersonal contact offered by the therapist with fear, anger, increased worrying and shame.
Working with individuals who use dissociation as an ongoing coping mechanism and also with people for whom shame is a primary way of organizing their emotional experience, we need to emphasize inquiry into the client’s subjective experience in our methods of psychotherapy .Such clients require the psychotherapist’s consistent attunement to their affective state and the therapist’s attunement to their developmental (often pre-language) level of functioning.
Therapeutic focus is not on behavioral change, but on the client’s internal process, validating the client’s subjective experience, to fill the psychological void the schizoid individual experiences internally. What becomes evident in a phenomenologically focused psychotherapy is the sequestered, hidden, encapsulated affect of the client’s self. If therapist is there in a healing, supportive, and clarifying way, that allows integration within the individual’s experience.
At this workshop, we use lecture, case-discussions and live demonstrations to first look at the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of shame, confusion and psychological withdrawal. We will examine the relational disruptions as they occur in hystorical situations in one’s today’s intimate relationships. Through demonstrations, we will examine how the healing can occur through respect, contact, authenticity and involvement.
E-mail: erskine.belgrade@gmail.com