January 17, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year! We are only three days away from one of the most historic events in most of our lives, the Inauguration of the first African-American President in the history of the United States, Barack Obama. Not only is he the first man of color to reach this position of power and honor in this country, but he is an intelligent, inspirational, and exciting leader, who generates pride and excitement in people who voted for him as well as in those who didn't. I am personally moved more by this event than I have been by anything else for quite some time. In describing this feeling, I would like to borrow from an eloquent message I received by email on election day from one of our excellent Norwegian colleagues. Since it was a private communication, I don't want to print his name without permission, but I would like to print a part of his message here:

"First of all I like to congratulate you on this very special day, electing Barack Obama the next President of The United States. I must admit I can still not really comprehend what has happened, indeed an historical event, and really a true victory to the entire American people, being able to make such a brave decision which will most definitely not only have a great impact in America, but, indeed, all over the world. I am proud to know you, too, working actively for this to come true!

May I even put it this way, the "pathogenic belief" that many people have, all over the world, that things cannot be done, that we cannot make our dreams into goals, and that efforts to achieve goals are useless because we cannot succeed, - these beliefs are truly challenged by your election of Barack Obama.

Again, congratulations with your historical choice last night, and - although there are enormous tasks to deal with - I feel far more optimistic about the future than only one day ago.

Today we are all proud, we are all Americans!" Read On

Following are course descriptions for several workshops at the 22nd Annual International Conference on Control Mastery:

New Thoughts on Trauma and CMT; Ginger Rhodes, PhD; Monday, March 2nd; 3:15 - 5:15

Come join Ginger Rhodes and her co-presenter in a workshop designed to explore types of pathogenic beliefs that are more common to trauma survivors. We'll also explore the kinds of testing that are most often experienced. Come prepared to talk about your own experiences in working with trauma survivors through the lens of CMT.

Men Will Be Men? A CM Perspective on Sexual Arousal; Michael Bader, DMH; Monday, March 2nd; 3:15 - 5:15

This workshop is going to be about sex--a control - mastery view of sex. In particular, we're going to be talking about about male sexuality. Men have special pathogenic beliefs that they tend to dis-confirm in gender specific ways. Among these ways are objectification, splitting sex and intimacy, the use of pornography and Internet sex, a gravitation to sex workers, and the attraction to young women. Men, it turns out, have special conflicts involving guilt and loneliness that shape a great deal of their sexual behavior, preferences, and fantasies. Understanding these issues can enable both men and women to feel more compassion and communicate better. Read On

Limit Setting: Difficult but Important: On Wednesday February 11, 2009 Barbara Sapienza, Ph.D., will explore the often misunderstood concept of limit setting and its importance in giving children both a sense of freedom and a feeling of security. In her presentation, Dr. Sapienza will discuss how to use clear, non-punitive limit setting that benefit children and parents.

This is presented by SFPRG and Redeemer Preschool in San Rafael as part of the free public Series benefiting children of all ages.

• Location: Church of the Redeemer, 123 Knight Dr. San Rafael @ Pt. San Pedro Rd
• Dates: Second Wednesday of each month; Jan thru May 2009
• Time: 7:00pm to 8:00pm
• Refreshments served at 6:45pm
• Note: Child care, Easy access, Parking

Click the link below to view full series

From George Silberschatz we learn that Peter Fonagy, Ph.D. Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and Head, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London will be delivering the 4th Annual Robert S. Wallerstein, MD Visiting Lectureship on Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at UCSF on Mentalization Research which, according to Wikipedia is,

"a psychological concept used by the Freudian psychologist Peter Fonagy; he employs it to describe the ability to understand the mental state of oneself and others based on overt behaviour.[1] Fonagy sees mentalization as a form of imaginative mental activity, which allow us to perceive and interpret human behaviour in terms of intentional mental states (e.g. needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, goals, purposes, and reasons).[2]"

When: Feb 11, 2009 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM

Where: 513 Parnassus Avenue - Cole Hall, UCSF

From Marshall Bush comes a recommendation of a "very fascinating movie called Lars and the Real Girl. It depicts the journey of a very traumatized young man who is helped to heal by a whole community. It is touching, funny, and very thought-provoking. If enough people are interested, I will arrange for movie night where we watch and discuss it. Happy New Year to everyone."

Other references are http://128.121.62.12/mentalize_article.htm and http://www.organiclemon.org/id7.html Read On

As our country looks forward to hard work, and hopefully to a more peaceful and successful future, so are we, in the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, looking forward to what we are going to do in our own future.

Michael Sand, in his book, How to Manage an Effective Non-Profit Organization, stated that organizations often spend a lot of effort developing a Strategic Plan, but then let the plan sit on the shelf without ever using it to effect change. He noted that usually the organization never goes back to review how closely it fulfilled the goals of the Strategic Plan. He recommended that Boards make a point to review their strategic plans and continue to develop new ones every three to five years.

The Board of SFPRG held several retreats in 2005 with the purpose to develop a thoughtful Strategic Plan for the next five years. We are coming to an end of that five year period and I would like to follow Sand's recommendations to review our last Strategic Plan as we prepare to sit down to develop our next one. Our current Strategic Plan was unanimously approved and adopted November 5, 2005, and can be found on line on our website, SFPRG.org.

SFPRG's 5 Year Strategic Plan:

1 - Goal: To enhance SFPRG's viability by developing funding to ensure our stability. That included a wish to fund an Executive Director position, a Clinic Director position, a Support Staff position, and a Development Staff position.

1 - Outcome: We have always had an administrative assistant who functions much like an Executive Director. We still need to formalize that role for our current administrative assistant. What is new since our Strategic Plan is that in the last year, we have added a Clinic Director position and a Clinic Training Director position. We have not yet funded or hired a Support Staff or Development Staff position.

What is also new is that we have begun a series of programs in the last six months to develop increased funding for SFPRG. We have organized a fundraising committee. We are working on a new brochure and a strategy to approach potential donors in the community. We also have targeted granting agencies and are beginning to do groundwork for grant writing to help fund these positions.

2 - Goal: Clinical Training and Clinic. Policy Statement: It is the policy of SFPRG to provide clinical training to all mental health disciplines in accordance with the requirements of the disciplines. The specific goals included:

A) Clinic to provide training in Control Mastery

B) To provide low-fee therapy

C) Opportunity for clinical research

D) Educating the community about CM Theory.

2 - Outcome:

A) We have a thriving clinic that provides clinical training to many mental health disciplines. The Clinic provides training in Control Mastery to clinical interns.

B) It provides low fee therapy to the community.

C) Several research studies have been performed and are currently underway. The Clinic offers a rich opportunity for further clinical research.

D) As a result of the Clinic (and other aspects of our program), the community has further exposure to Control Mastery Theory.

3 - Goal: Member Services.

A) To increase board membership

B) To offer low fee supervision opportunities

C) To develop a newsletter.

3 - Outcome:

A) We have increased board membership from 12 to 15 directors, including a voting position for clinic interns

B) We have not yet developed low fee supervision opportunities

C) We have a thriving newsletter that offers more opportunities to communicate, to disseminate ideas, and to promote programs.

A new service, not anticipated in the last Strategic Plan, is that we have begun to develop a system that basically offers a webpage for each member on SFPRG's website. This will make it easier for members to be available for many purposes including potential clinical referrals.

4 - Goal: Research Activities.

A) Expand research program.

B) Research Post-doc program.

4 - Outcome:

A) We have an active research program with several projects currently underway. It is not clear that our research program has "expanded" in the way we envisioned. We have reorganized our research committee. The committee was given the mandate to catalogue previous and existing research projects, and plan the logical next steps of empirical inquiry. We have ongoing research classes. One thing we would like to do is actively find a way to encourage new researchers to join our group not only to participate in current projects, but hopefully to initiate new projects of their own.

B) We have not developed a research post-doc program. The Clinic has instituted a research track in the internship program that draws interns who are particularly interested in research and who are given special time and instruction in doing research. For two years, SFPRG offered a post-doc certificate program in Control-Mastery Theory. That is a variant of the research post-doc program idea but not quite what was originally conceived.

On the research front, we are expanding the fundraising and grant process to raise money for a research assistant. We have taken some definite steps in the direction of expanding and developing our research program but we have a way to go to achieving that goal.

5 - Goal: Educational/Community Outreach activities.

A) Maintain and further develop a national and international presence.

B) SFPRG membership to increase to 300.

C) Publications committee - Get CM publications out to public and support people to write about CMT.

D) Diverse Activities represented (eg. Art, film, literary interests).

E) More large scale conferences including out of Bay Area conferences.

F) More small conferences, giving more members the opportunity to teach.

5 - Outcome:

A) We have maintained and furthered a national and international presence. We continue to offer the March Workshops, now known as the International Conference on Control Mastery Theory. Each returning and new participants come from all over the country and the world to participate in learning and teaching Control Mastery Theory.

Last year, our Norwegian colleagues Hans Peter, Dag, Tor, and Kari put on their annual international conference in Almagro, Spain, which was devoted completely to Control Mastery Theory.

This spring, there will be another international conference organized by our Norwegian colleagues in Cuba focusing on Control Mastery Theory.

B) Membership was about 200 last year. We have not yet succeeded in attaining the number of 300. In fact, we have slipped slightly from last year and are hoping many of you who read this newsletter will join.

C)Publications: Vic Comello has a website that can be accessed through a link at SFPRG.org which lists many of the articles published by our group. We are in the process of trying to officially catalogue all of the articles, research and clinical, that our members have published. We are also trying to archive articles that haven't been published.

I have been in touch with our Norwegian colleagues who are collecting a significant number of articles written by their group on Control Mastery Theory. Even though, many of the articles are in Norwegian, the abstracts are in English and we will have that list available soon for the newsletter and our website.

Also, members of our group continue to publish articles and books. George Silberschatz published Transformative Relationships in 2005. Michael Bader published Male Sexuality in 2008. Josh Coleman has written five books in the past several years, When Parents Hurt, The Marriage Makeover, Imperfect Harmony, The Lazy Husband, and Married with Twins. I, Steve Foreman, will be coming out with a book on child psychology later this year, Breaking the Spell, Why Kids Do the Very Thing that Drives Their Parents Crazy.

D) Diverse Activities. Our group continues to express diverse interests in the arts and politics. SFPRG presented a conference on the intersection of psychology and politics called Democracy on the Couch with Michael Bader, Helene Goldberg, and Rabbi Michael Lerner. Stan Steinberg lectures on art. We offer a night at the movies at our International Conference on in March looking at subjects such as Andy Goldworthy. This year our film will be Gilbert Grape. We would like to develop more programs that reflect and stimulate the diverse interests of our members.

E) More large scale conferences nationally and locally. SFPRG continues to plan and produce large conferences. We have put on two East Coast conferences since our last Strategic Plan. We would like to do more. We continue to put on one or two major conferences locally every semester. We have added a second yearly course on Introduction to Control Mastery Theory. In the last few years we have put on a new major conference on Aggression with Heather Clague and Helene Goldberg. We put on a big program on child therapy and parenting with Paul Abrinko, Susan Badger, Betsy Hanna, and Patsy Wood. Michael Bader presented a major conference on his book, Male Sexuality. Denny Zeitlin made a major presentation on Couples Therapy and Control Mastery Theory. We offered a conference on the psychology of medications with Michael Lowenstein, Norm Sohn, and myself.

F) More small conferences. We have been successful in presenting new topics with new presenters offered in the last few years. In the last year, in addition to conferences and workshops, SFPRG has offered two new parenting lecture series, one series last year in San Francisco and another in San Rafael this year. These free lectures are a public service to parents and those interested in child psychology and development.

In addition to the accomplishments above we are also trying to develop a Speakers' Bureau of people who are willing to talk about Control Mastery Theory to the community. There are many opportunities and a great demand for speakers about Control Mastery Theory to consult to schools and different training or clinical programs.

These speaking opportunities will help members of our group develop their careers and become better known in the community while at the same time, offer the community needed insights and expertise about Control Mastery Theory.

Overall, we have achieved much of what we have set out for ourselves in the last Strategic Plan from 2005. We are planning our next Strategic Planning Retreat to review our progress and revamp our goals for the next three to five years. We would love input from anyone who cares about the group, whether members or not. Please feel free to contact me or other Board Directors. Please also feel free to contact Kathie Dunn, editor of the newsletter to publicize your suggestions and ideas in an article for the newsletter.

I wish you all a happy New Year. This is a wonderful time for new beginnings. See you next month.

Steve Foreman

Advanced Romantic Love, Heather Folsom, MD; Tues, 3-3-09, 3:15 - 5:15pm

Romantic love is so complex, prevalent, and problematic, we are offering a follow-up to last year's lively workshop. We will take a more in-depth look at the interplay between the unconscious and cultural factors. We will continue to examine how Control Mastery Theory can deepen our understanding of romantic love, with an examination of transference and passive-into-active testing in this context. We will also look more closely at the differences between conscious and unconscious goals. Participants are encouraged to bring case vignettes for presentation and discussion.

How Patients Test, Alan Rappoport, PhD; Wed, 3-4-09, 1 - 3pm.

In this workshop we will examine theoretical and practical aspects of testing. We will apply what you have learned so far about Control-Mastery theory to see how peoples' motivation to overcome their pathogenic beliefs comes alive in the therapy relationship. We will look at a variety of aspects of transference testing and passive-into-active testing, learn how to distinguish one from another, and discuss what the patient hopes to accomplish with these activities. We will also get a sense of the experience of the patient and of the therapist in each of these forms of testing. Finally, we will apply our theory to case material to see if we can use it to deepen our understanding of the therapeutic process.

On Psychotherapy Technique, Irwin Gootnik, PhD; Wed, 3-4-09, 1 - 3pm

How to quickly understand the origins of the patient's problems.

How to know if what you are doing is advancing the patient's goals.

How to know if what you are doing is hindering the patient's goals in therapy.

How to correct for mistakes.

Control Mastery and Women: The Intersection of Biology and Belief, Patsy Wood, PhD and Melanie Clark, MFT; Wed, 3-4-09, 3:15 - 5:15pm

Freud famously asked, "What do women want?" In our male-dominated world, women's psychology has often been assumed to be basically similar to male psychology. But in fact, biological and socio-cultural influences on women are often different from those on men.

As Control Mastery Therapists, we rely on a case-specific model for understanding our clients, recognizing that this perspective is critical for determining pro-plan interventions. And we tend to base our case-specific formulations primarily on what we know of our clients' experiences adapting to their original family environment. However, every family is also embedded in the larger culture: social, economic, educational, and religious. This can profoundly influence how that family, and therefore that client, sees the world and him or herself in that world. In addition, every individual is born with their own temperament and gender, and these factors also influence how that individual comes to perceive her or himself in the world. Confining our case formulations to only the experiences of the original family can cause us to overlook crucial information in the larger social context that can help us understand the traumas and pathogenic beliefs of the person we are helping. Sometimes these larger social influences and biological factors are important to make explicit with our clients as we work to build a therapeutic relationship and sense of safe haven with them. Race and gender and social class are examples of attributes that can profoundly contribute to the development of a client's pathogenic beliefs, and if not explicitly addressed in therapy, can remain unconscious obstacles to that client's optimal development and happiness.

For many therapists it can feel uncomfortable to view our client as a member of a larger group because it can feel as if we are objectifying him or her. We are also aware that frequently within-group differences can be greater than comparing one group to other groups. And as case-specific therapists, we work with these larger social realities implicitly with our clients. Nevertheless, we live in a social order where power and privilege, group expectations, personal identity as well as biological factors intersect to significantly impact real life problems and thus create tremendous distress in many of our clients. Acknowledging these influences can enhance our effectiveness as pro plan therapists.

The focus of this workshop is to open a dialogue about some of the biological and socio-cultural issues that may affect our female clients in particular, and the ways these issues contribute to the unconscious pathogenic beliefs that developed in their family of origin. We will explore how these biological and socio-cultural factors can reinforce individual women clients' psychopathology, and how our awareness of these factors as therapists can help us make sense of the experiences of our female clients in a pro plan way.

The workshop will begin with an overview of some of the larger social realities our female clients may face followed by a presentation of some of the more salient biological issues that we must keep in mind with our women clients. Finally a case presentation will demonstrate how the intersection of biological/hormonal factors coupled with socio-cultural expectations can impact the pathogenic beliefs of an individual female client and how a Control Mastery therapists works with that client to help her disconfirm those pathogenic beliefs. There will then be ample time left over for participants to bring in their own observations and wisdom from their work with female clients.

Family Therapy: An Integrative Approach, Steve Kanofsky, PhD; Wed 3-4-09, 3:15 - 5:15pm.

The course attempts to demonstrate the rationale and procedures for applying Control Mastery Theory to family therapy. Case examples will be used to further illustrate the plan formulation's application to family treatment. Control Mastery's compatibility with other contemporary approaches to family therapy (Family Systems Theory, Narrative Therapy, Attachment/Emotion Focused Therapy) will be highlighted, along with its unique contributions to the field.

The Challenge of Intimacy: Control-Mastery Couple Therapy, Dennis J. Zeitlin, MD and Jack Maslow, MSW; Thur, 3-5-09, 1:15 - 3:15pm. A Lecture-Discussion Workshop.

This workshop will begin with Denny Zeitlin's presentation of his original application of Control-Mastery theory to the theory and practice of couple therapy, explicating the challenges that occur in the development of intimate relationships, including partner choice, evolution of dysfunction, nature of therapeutic work, and testing.

Jack Maslow will follow with a couple therapy case presentation from a Control-Mastery perspective.

There will be time for questions and discussion, and links to downloadable didactic material will be provided.

Child and Adolescent Case Conference, William Dickman, MD; Thur 3-5-09, 3:15 - 5:15pm

The Child and Adolescent session this year will be a Case Conference based format. Participants will be invited to present cases, and we will then discuss the child and adolescent work from a Control Mastery perspective.

Treatment by Attitudes, Helene Goldberg, PhD and Hal Sampson, PhD; Fri 3-6-09, 3:15 - 5:15pm

This course will look at 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'll focus on Hal Sampson's pithy and incredibly useful article by the same name. It's a chance to discuss it all with Hal Sampson, himself. You won't want to miss this.

Hello to all my friends and colleagues from SFPRG.

For those of you who are not acquainted with me, I spent two years with the clinic as a pre-doc intern from The Wright Institute. It was a valuable time for me to consolidate my learning and further develop my clinical skills using Control Mastery Theory. It was a pleasure to learn from the experts, and I thank them again for the time and effort they donated to the clinic.

I am posting to the newsletter because I would like to make two announcements:

First, I would like to let the membership know that I have moved on to a private practice psych-assistantship with Susan Chandler, Ph.D., as my supervisor. Susan is a veteran clinician and some of you may know her through her long-standing involvement with the San Francisco Psychological Association. I am delighted to have the opportunity to be working out of her office in Hayes Valley and am accepting sliding scale referrals at this time. I am particularly interested in working with members of the LGBT community and their special concerns, but have also developed a depth of experience working with first generation adult children of Asian immigrants, PTSD, addiction, and those struggling with the effects of poverty and homelessness.

My second announcement concerns the development of my interest in a particular aspect of the gay community that also reaches across boundaries of sexuality. I have recently finished my defense and am beginning to collect data for my dissertation examining the occupational issues facing those with HIV. If you, or anyone you know has left the workforce after being diagnosed with HIV, then please check out my survey site for further information. The survey is completely anonymous. The web address is:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IVf35Ne63_2bhlCn_2fntQLQ1Q_3d_3d

Thank you for any assistance you may be able to give, and I look forward to my continued involvement with SFPRG as I further develop myself as a clinician.

Sincerely, Tim Lewis; 415-632-7679;

d_timlewis@sbcglobal.net

No Berkeley/Solano Office

Full-time therapy office available in ideal location. Charming, cozy, fireplace, sound proof, call system, wheelchair access. Clean/utils inc. Call Frieda Schwartz at (510) 526-0908

Presidio Funston #10 first floor office, beautiful decor available for sublet 2-3 days a week--days negotiable. Rent would be for 2 days/wk 495$/mo and could be extended into 3 days @ 750$/mo. If interested please call Priya Parmar, MD @ 415 561-6789.