Journal of Psychiatry

The deep-seated nature of the empathic dialectic and Its role in clinical practice

European Conference on Psychiatry

March 09, 2023 | Webinar

Shannon L. Mcintyre

Antioch University, New Hampshire, United States

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

I will present a formulation of therapeutic empathy called the “empathic dialectic” which involves the therapist’s ability to effectively manage the necessary tension between emotionally resonating with the patient’s internal state on one hand and co-regulating this state on the other hand. To support this concept of an empathic dialectic. I will summarize background literature from the areas of inter subjectivity, rupture repair, relational psychoanalysis, and attachment theory and review contemporary research in support of this framework. I will then facilitate a discussion around de-identified session material which illustrates what it means to effectively navigate the empathic dialectic and its implications for the therapeutic alliance and which alternatively demonstrates what it means to ineffectively navigate the empathic dialectic, and the impact of the subsequent imbalance on the therapeutic alliance. These examples will showcase the importance of therapist’s attachment security and metallization, and they will highlight the negative repercussions of therapist’s insecurity (when metallization tends to be underdeveloped). After demonstrating the relationship between therapists security metallization and their capacities to navigate the empathic dialectic and build and maintain a strong therapeutic alliance I will offer methods of enhancing security and metallization including in-depth personal therapy and relational supervision. I will conclude by promoting the empathic dialectic as a key clinical competency and providing further recommendations for supervision and training.

Biography :

Dr. Mcintyre is an Assistant Professor in the department of clinical psychology at Antioch University New England. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Program for Psychotherapy at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, where she provided psychodynamic treatment to adult patients. Dr. Mcintyre also interned at Pennsylvania Hospital providing individual therapy to patients in a community-based clinic and to patients in palliative care. She earned her Ph.D. In Clinical Psychology from Long Island University in Brooklyn and her undergraduate degree at University of California, Berkeley.