Surviving Our Patients: Helping the Clinician Weather the Hazards of Counseling / Psychotherapy

Monday, 22 June 2009 - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Jimmie C. Holland MD and Marguerite Lederberg MD

Only in English / Ausschließlich auf Englisch

Target Audience:

Clinicians from all disciplines (psychology, psychiatry, nursing, social work, clergy) who provide supportive counseling / psychotherapy for patients with cancer will benefit from discussions of common clinical problems.

Workshop Objectives:

1. The attendee will learn what are the differences in supportive therapy with the medically ill, and when it is right to “bend the rules” (eg. time, place, flexibility of approach).
2. The attendee will learn the evidence base for psychological interventions, from recent review by the Institute of Medicine, US.
3. The attendee will be able to address the common problems of counter-transference in working with patients with cancer.
4. The attendee will be better able to recognize and traverse the ethical boundaries posed in psychotherapy with cancer patients and families.

Workshop Description:

This workshop will review the key psychotherapy issues by disease stage, managing the “difficult” (manipulative, borderline, seductive, suicidal, angry) patient; recognizing one’s own “loss history” and vulnerabilities; review of the complex role and blurred boundaries that psychotherapists must constantly navigate.