ANNOUNCEMENTS

DVD AVAILABLE

Visit our Resources page for instructions on how to order the DVD: Psychotherapy Case Formulation from the Perspective of Control-Mastery Theory w/ George Silberschatz and Susan Badger.

SPEAKERS AVAILABLE

SFPRG is happy to provide speakers on Control Mastery theory to groups of therapists, students, or other interested parties. Contact the office to make arrangements.

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LOW FEE PSYCHOTHERAPY

Seeking low fee psychotherapy? Any person seeking psychotherapy and unable to afford private fees is eligible to request consultation from the Clinic Program.Click here for more information.

Courses

For information on Wednesday evening Fundamentals of Control Mastery Theory click here.

Saturday Workshops below

To register online with Visa or MC or to print out the registration form click "Registration" on menu to the left..

All classes are appropriate for licensed therapists that practice individual psychotherapy or analysis. Students are also welcome.

2010 Fall Case Conferences
Saturday Workshops - Fall 2010

2010 Fall Case Conferences Back to Top

Understanding Control Mastery: a Case Conference

Peter Schumacher, MFT
September 13 - Dec 13, 2010, Mondays, 10:30 - 12:00 noon 19.5 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco

This seminar will be a forum for developing an individualized approach to treatment based on each patient's unique history, with a focus on working with difficult patients. Using principles of Control Mastery Theory, we will make sense of the complex and often counterintuitive interactions and behaviors presented by patients who seek our help. We will discuss treatment by attitude, and look at how the therapist's use of self in the therapeutic relationship is at the core of the healing experience. Participants will learn how to: 1) carefully make hypotheses about the nature of the patient's problems and the patient's goals from the first several sessions; 2) test these hypotheses by studying the patient's reaction to the therapist's interventions, and continue to check these as the therapy progresses; 3) identify the patient's tests and possible ways to successfully pass them; 4) offer interpretations that will facilitate movement towards the patient's goals; 5) track therapeutic progress by noting changes in the patient's behavior and feelings outside of therapy; 6) interpret the meaning and origin of the patient's symptoms and character disorders

Wednesday Case Study Group

Norman Sohn, Ph.D.,LCSW, & Alan Rappoport, Ph.D
Sept 29 - Dec 15, 2010, Wednesdays, 9:00 - 10:00 am (12 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco

In this course we study psychotherapy cases as a way of educating ourselves about the therapeutic process. We will follow cases verbatim, and formulate and test hypotheses about the nature of the interactions between therapist and client. We will attempt to understand how the interactional process may be furthering and/or hindering the client's progress, and also evaluate how well Control Mastery principles help us understand the client and the therapy. By the end of the class participants will be able to: 1) evaluate what kinds of interactions may be helpful and unhelpful in psychotherapy, 2) use Control Mastery theory to understand the nature of passed tests and pro-plan interpretations and how the patient may respond to them, 3) develop and test hypotheses about the therapeutic process;4) formulate cases in case specific ways.

The Therapeutic Process - SF

Steven Foreman, M.D
October 6 - Dec 15, 2010, Wednesdays, 2:30-4:00 pm (15 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco

This course will use continuous case presentations, along with selected readings and group discussions, to deepen participants' understanding of the therapeutic process. We will study closely how the therapist's comments, interpretations, attitudes towards the patient's goals, hopes and fears and reactions to the patient's testing facilitates (or in some instances may hinder) the patient's progress. By the end of the class, participants will be able to: 1) explain the therapeutic process from a Control Mastery perspective 2) discuss how the psychotherapist actually contributes to the patient's progress, 3) analyze the sequential unfolding of the therapeutic process over an extended period of treatment, and 4) detect connections between the therapist's attitudes, actions and interpretations on the patient's progress and/or failure to progress.

Interactive Process of Psychotherapy (East Bay)

Carol Drucker, Ph.D
Sept 30 - Dec 9, 2010, Thursdays, 12:00 - 1:00 pm (8 CE hours)*
Call for Berkeley/Albany location. (Does not meet on the first Thursday of each month)

Treatment By Attitudes (East Bay)

Helene Goldberg, Ph.D.
September 23 - Dec 9, 2010, Thursdays, 2:30 - 4pm (15 CE hours)*
Dr. Goldberg's Office in the East Bay - Call (510) 524-7833 for details

The course will focus on the therapeutic relationship and how we can use our own enjoyment of that relationship to help our patients-with a special emphasis on the humor and humanity that Hal Sampson brought to Control-Mastery Theory. We will develop case formulations and increase our understanding of the patient's unconscious plan to help us balance authentic boundaries with the spontaneity and genuine feeling that makes the therapy come alive. Guest lecture by Michael Bader. By the end of the class participants will learn how to: 1) analyze how psychotherapy works according to Control-Mastery Theory; 2) hypothesize case formulations and identify patient's plans and pathogenic beliefs from early sessions of the treatment; 3) use ideas in Hal Sampson's Treatment by Attitude to guide the therapist in creating a beneficial therapeutic relationship; 4) track therapeutic progress by noting patient's behavior in and out of the sessions; and 5) develop a personal style of interacting with patients that allows for maximal benefit.

How Control Mastery Theory Works (East Bay)

Michael Lowenstein, M.D.
Sept 17 - Dec 10, 2010, Fridays, 9:30 - 11:00 am (18 CE hours)*
Dr. Lowenstein's Office in Orinda- Call (925) 258-9302 for details

This course is designed for all clinicians (experienced or not) who wish to further their understanding of Control Mastery Theory. We will examine it as both a theory of the mind as well as a clinical theory. We will look at CMT's strengths and limitations and compare it with other contemporary theories. By the end of the class participants will be able to: 1) apply Control Mastery theory to their work with patients in order to understand a patient's psychological problems, 2) infer what kinds of interventions will be helpful to the particular patient, 3) formulate how to track the process and progress of treatment, and 4) develop and enhance their clinical skills so that the individual therapist can creatively solve clinical problems using their individual strengths.

Friday Afternoon 2pm Research Group

Marshall Bush, PhD
September 10 - Dec 17, 2010, Fridays, 2:00 - 3:00 pm (149 CE Hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco - no cost.

This class is intended for SFPRG members and graduate students who would like to participate in the task of designing and carrying out a variety of new clinical research projects. Participants will learn how to 1) implement new research projects to expand, validate, and correct (if necessary) control mastery therapy, 2)to systematize and operationalize the basic principles of control mastery therapy so that it can be further validated as an empirically supported therapy, 3) to compare control mastery theory to other theories of therapy, 4) to develop a control mastery, theory approach for understanding and treating specific clinical populations, and 5) to develop process and outcome measures for studying transcripts of the case of AR.

* Continuing Education credit earned on an hour for hour basis. These are maximum offered if no class is missed.

Saturday Workshops - Fall 2010 Back to Top

Pre-registration prices listed - cost increases by $20. one week before class.

Understanding Complex Trauma through Control Mastery Concepts

Ginger Rhodes, PhD
Saturday,Oct 2, 2010, 9 am - 12:15 pm. 3 CEs $35 members; $50 non-members; $10 students
San Francisco Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street (at Presidio Ave).

In this workshop, we will identify the similarities and differences between complex trauma and a more traditional understanding of posttraumatic stress-type trauma. We will review the growing body of support for the impact of complex trauma on survivors’s affect regulation and information processing. We will also identify how complex trauma influences survivors’s pathogenic beliefs and the potential impact on how survivors test these beliefs in treatment.

1) Participants will be able to identify the similarities and differences between complex, developmental trauma and a more traditional understanding of posttraumatic stress.
2) Participants will be able to demonstrate knowledge of impact of developmental trauma on survivors affect regulation and information processing.
3) Participants will be able to identify the testing methods that survivors employ in their attempt at disconfirming the pathogenic beliefs that arise out of exposure to significant trauma.
4) Participants will be able to recognize the application of testing and other Control Mastery concepts as are related (or not) within a complex trauma framework.

Dr. Rhodes is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in San Francisco specializing in trauma treatment. Her practice includes the psychological evaluation of trauma survivors seeking political asylum in the United States.

An Introduction to Control Mastery Theory

Steven Foreman, MD,
Saturday,Oct 9, 2010, 9 am - 4:15 pm. 6 CEs $50 members; $50 non-members; $20 students
San Francisco Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street (at Presidio Ave).

This course is intended for therapists and therapists in training who wish to deepen their understanding about how psychopathology develops and how psychotherapy works. The conceptual framework is Control-Mastery theory, an integrated cognitive-psychodynamic-relational theory that has been empirically supported. In addition to lectures and clinical case material presented by the instructor, there will be question and answer periods that offer participants an in-depth dialogue with the presenter. The participants will 1) learn how pathogenic beliefs are acquired and how they produce psychopathology; 2) learn the patient’s primary motivation in psychotherapy; 3) learn how patients work unconsciously in therapy to solve their problems and how the therapist can help them in their work; 4) learn how to infer a patients plan; and 5) learn how patients treat their pathogenic beliefs in the therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Foreman is a Child and Adult Psychiatrist who has been in practice in San Francisco for over twenty-five years. He is currently president of the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group. He has conducted research on the process and outcome of psychotherapy with adults and children. Dr. Foreman has published numerous clinical and research papers and has lectured nationally and internationally on the subject of psychotherapy. He has recently finished his first book, for parents and professionals, Breaking the Spell: Understanding Why Kids Do the Very Thing That Drives You Crazy.

How and Why Psychotherapy Works: An Introduction to Control Mastery Theory - Sacramento

Susan Landes, PsyD, MFT

Saturday, Oct 9, 2010, 9 am - 4:15 pm. 6 CEs $50 ($20 students/interns)
Sacramento, CA TBA

Dr. Landes has been involved in the study and practice of Control-Mastery psychotherapy since 1989 and completed her pre-doc internship at the SFPRG Clinic and Training Center in San Francisco where she had the privilege to study with Dr. Joseph Weiss.

*Continuing Education credit has been approved for all of the listed classes.

L.C.S.W.s/M.F.C.C.s: SFPRG is a provider approved by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider Number PCE104, for CE credit on an hour-for-hour basis.

PSYCHIATRISTS: SFPRG is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. SFPRG takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity. Physicians attending this Workshop may report, on an hour-for-hour basis, AMA PRA Category 1 credit.

PSYCHOLOGISTS: SFPRG is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SFPRG maintains responsibility for these programs and their contents.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

If you cancel 15 days or more before a program, your fee will be refunded, minus a $25.00 administrative fee, or you may apply the amount paid to another program(s) with no penalty. If you cancel less than 15 days before a program, you will receive a credit voucher, minus a $25.00 processing fee, which may be applied to another program(s) with one (1) year of the date of issue.

Paying by credit card will increase cost by $5 per Conference for processing/bank fees.

San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group Clinic and Training Center