June 18, 2014

Hello Community,

This month brings two great adventures into my life. Today I am leaving on a trip to Southeast Asia to explore new cultures, new people and new cuisine. I will be traveling to Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. I got the travel bug early in life when my parents moved us by car from New York to Arizona. That was a culture shock! Some of you may remember that three years ago I was asked to present at a conference in Bangkok on Control Mastery Theory by our colleague Dr.Tinakon Wongpakaran. That experience was one of the highlights of my career.

My other big adventure is taking over the board Presidency of SFPRG. It has been a joy and an honor to be on the board as President Elect under the tutelage of Steve Foreman. I am deeply grateful for his dedication to preserving the mission and the heart of our organization.

For several years prior to joining the SFPRG board, I was on the board of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of CAMFT. One of reasons I joined that board was because I was new to the Sacramento area and wanted to meet some new colleagues and build a referral base for my new therapy practice in Auburn. Being a group affiliation person, I found that doing board service was a great way to come together with other like-minded (and some not so like-minded) people working for a common cause. Those early connections I made in Sacramento and other subsequent marketing opportunities (especially giving talks on CMT, Substance Abuse, and DBT) led to my having a busy practice in Auburn and now also in Davis. Having that opportunity and experience paved the way for my current board service at SFPRG. One of the big differences between the two organizations, is that I have a long history and a deep sense of connection and appreciation for CMT and for the SFPRG community. I am grateful to all of you who have sent me referrals over the years and who have made themselves available for much needed consultation.

Board service and/or committee work are wonderful opportunities to give back to an organization, to be part of the greater therapist community, to give voice to your ideas on how to continue the legacy of Joe and Hal and lastly, to experience the ripple effect of helping people to move past their pathogenic beliefs, build healthier relationships and have more meaningful lives. I am so looking forward to working with all of you who have stepped forward to join me in this meaningful work and to get to know those of you who have yet to join us.

Warmly,
Susan Landes

Gosh I love summer- everything slows down and we get a chance to look back over the year and think about how to improve our clinic and training program. Carol has created a fantastic training schedule with many previous interns returning to share their wisdom. We love our growing intern population! We are also always indebted to those of you who donate your time to teach and supervise our students.

We will say goodbye to Ingrid and Elida this month, as they will return to Norway. We have quite the exchange with Bergen! George Silberschatz was just there, Steve Foreman and Peter Schumacher are on their way and I will be interviewing perspective students, and giving a talk in September! Over 15 Norwegian students have trained with us!

I am extremely excited to welcome Ginger Rhodes to our clinic staff. She will begin a multi-year transition, which will result in her ultimately taking the reigns as Clinic Director. She will begin July 1st on a part time basis as the Assistant Clinic Director and will be increasing her hours as I decrease mine. I couldn't have envisioned anyone more perfect than Ginger. Her clinical expertise, warmth and commitment to helping interns become their most authentic selves warms my heart, and reassures me that this clinic that I love so much will flourish. We will be working closely together over the next few years to insure a smooth transition. I will also always remain connected to and involved with the clinic.

So we have a lot to celebrate - Let's begin at the Summer Samba 2.0. It will be held in the afternoon on August 17 (watch the newsletter for the exact time) at my home in Berkeley. We will have more wonderful music and food, and a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet the new interns. Last year we had over 50 people and it was great fun! Looking forward to seeing you there!!

As I head toward the end of my second year of post-doctoral training at SFPRG, I'm aware that I'm just beginning to master Control Mastery Theory. While the theory is elegant and commonsensical, implementing the simple principles of CMT in my clinical work from client to client, week to week, is a learning process that will, happily, continue throughout my professional life. I feel lucky to be supported in that by this wonderful SFPRG community.

I want to offer my warmest thanks to the supervisors who have guided my learning and application of CMT over the past two years: Jessica Broitman, Marshall Bush, Suzanne Gassner, and Michael Lowenstein.

I'll be taking my licensing exams late this summer and fall, and in the meantime, I'm very excited to be launching my supervised private practice with John Snyder, with whom I hope to have the chance to do some writing on CMT as well. Hopefully, I'll be licensed in October. I continue to specialize in couple therapy, integrating my training in emotion focused couple therapy (EFT)) with control mastery theory. I also work with anxiety and depression, relationship issues, and offer parenting support. I'm currently accepting referrals for my private (supervised) practice (under John Synder), and my fee range is $75 to $125. I can be reached directly at (415) 484-5210 and at dr.valerie.crawford@gmail.com. I can also be reached at the clinic, where I continue to see clients, at (415) 677-7946, ext. 2.

Valerie Crawford

Our annual SFPRG Membership Drive continues! The support we get from membership dues is a very important part of our budget each year. This organization would not exist without our members providing the support that keeps us going. We are a non-profit with minimal staff. Membership dues, donations and volunteers are what makes this organization able to continue doing the important work that we do.

If you are not a member, please consider adding your support to those members who value Control Mastery Theory and our sliding-scale clinic. If you are a member, please renew as soon as you can so we don't incur any more cost in reminders.

You can join or renew online.

Thank you!!

Painting of Joe Weiss by Stan Steinberg


On Sunday, June 22, several SFPRG members attended an art exhibit and show at the SF Center for Psychoanalysis. The frame of the exhibit was the painting groups and art of Dr. Stanley Steinberg -- the overarching theme being art and friendships.

There were paintings and sculptures from Stan and members of the groups of friends he has painted with throughout his life. There was also a presentation of a book recently published in Japan that took inspiration from his time in Okinawa, painting with the Okinawan Artist Society, post-WWII. On display were paintings by these artists that Stan had collected when he was stationed there in the army.

There were also sketches from Sarah Stein, Gertrude's sister-in-law, with whom Stan had a friendship starting when he began med school at Stanford. Well represented was the group of artists that Stan currently paints with, including SFPRG member Jane Dulay.

Stan spoke about the various friends that he had painted with, including Joe and Estelle Weiss. The Center has a beautiful painting by Estelle that was displayed in this exhibit. Other Weiss paintings were borrowed from SFPRG's walls (on loan from the Weiss family). Two of Stan's paintings of Joe that have been hanging outside of Stan's office at SFPRG were shown as well.

Along with the book presentation we were treated to traditional Okinawan music as well as delicious snacks made by an Okinawan woman. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Amazon.com has a new program called AmazonSmile which will give a small donation from your purchase to the nonprofit of your choice. Please bookmark AmazonSmile and designate the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group as your charity of choice! Link to AmazonSmile here

Over the past few newsletters we presented a talk given by Dr. Joseph Weiss on his work. This is the fifth and final installment of this lecture continued from the previous newsletters. The other segments are available in the newsletter archives - Editor

Mr. T.C. (see Weiss 1993, 1981-82)

Before his first interview with Mr. T. C. the analyst had heard from the referring family physician that Mr. T. C. was depressed and having difficulty working. Mr. T. C.'s parent, siblings, and wife all worked hard themselves and all were worried about his not working. However, during his first session Mr. T. C., a computer programmer, who knew that the analyst had been informed by the referring physician of his difficulty working, did not talk about this problem. Instead he chatted informally about the computer he saw in the secretary's office. He talked about its capabilities and discussed various programs that the secretary might find useful. He also talked about several friends and acquaintances whom the analyst knew.

The analyst became aware that Mr. T. C. was doing the same thing in analysis as in everyday life, that is, making a point of not working. The analyst was tempted to point this out. However, he suspected the patient's wife and parents had been nagging him to work, that the patient resented this, and that the patient was testing the analyst to determine whether the analyst would also try to induce him to work. Therefore the analyst decided not to question him and indeed not to offer any interpretations until the patient gave some indication that he wanted to be helped interpretively. The analyst simply showed interest in whatever topic the patient introduced.

About two weeks after Mr. T. C.'s first session the analyst received a call from the referring physician stating that Mr. T. C. was feeling better and beginning to work more enthusiastically. (Mr. T. C. made no mention of his working.) The analyst inferred from the patient's working that he was on the right track and continued his non interpretive approach.

Over a period of time the patient began to talk more freely about himself. After several months he talked about the high value he placed on a sense of freedom. He stated that he felt constrained by a schedule and he linked his need for freedom to the constraints his parents had placed on him. They worked all the time and were uncomfortable when he did not. If he watched TV, they would remind him of tasks that he had not completed.

At this point the analyst told Mr. T. C. that he had apparently accepted his parents' opinion that he should work all the time and was now struggling against believing this. Mr. T. C. seemed pleased and agreed. As a consequence of these and other comments the patient became less averse to interpretation. Though the analyst continued to treat the patient mainly by his attitude, he made a number of comments designed to help Mr. T. C. fit his memories and his current problems into a broad explanatory framework, thereby enabling him to understand himself better and to see himself more sympathetically. Mr. T. C.'s difficulty working was rooted in the pathogenic belief that he should work very hard and should not enjoy leisure or freedom. In childhood he had felt so burdened by his parents' insistence that he always be working that he had become averse to doing any work. In his analysis he feared that the analyst would insist that he work continuously on his problems and so confirm his pathogenic belief that he should not feel free in treatment to talk about whatever he wanted. When the analyst did not insist on his working Mr. T. C. permitted himself to become more relaxed both in his everyday life and in his treatment. As he felt more free and began to enjoy his leisure he found work less burdensome.

In the case of Dr. G.B. I have shown that the patient gives macro tests, that is, tests that may last for several months. If the analyst passes them, the patient may make dramatic progress. In our research we have shown that the patient also gives the therapist a number of mini-tests in each hour (Silberschatz 1986). If the therapist passes the mini tests, the patient immediately feels less anxious and is immediately less defensive and more insightful. Let me give an example of a mini test: a patient unconsciously suffered from the pathogenic belief that he would be rejected. During a particular hour early in the therapy, he told the therapist that he was uncomfortable with a certain girlfriend because he felt he had nothing to offer her. When the therapist challenged this idea, the patient showed a mini shift towards less fear of rejection, more insightfulness and more relaxation. We have demonstrated in our research that mini shifts such as this occur in almost every therapy hour, sometimes four or five times, and our findings are very strong (Linsner 1987; Silberschatz & Curtis 1993; Kelly 1989; Bugas 1986). These mini shifts occur in response either to passed tests or to pro plan interpretations.

I'll report now on a research study carried out by Polly Fretter (1984) of our group which demonstrates shifts in the patient's level of experiencing in response to the therapist's interpretations. Here again I will just give a summary of our results since a summary of our research method would be very hard to follow. Fretter's study was carried out on the transcripts of three brief 16 session psychotherapies. Fretter demonstrated a strong correlation between the degree an interpretation was pro plan and the degree to which the patient's level of experiencing shifted from just before the interpretation to just after it. The patient's level of experiencing was measured by the experiencing scale, a standard scale that has been used in psychotherapy research since 1970. A high degree of experience indicates non defensiveness. It is very closely correlated with a generic measure of insight. When Fretter correlated the mean for each hour of all of the therapists' interpretations for the degree to which these interpretations were pro plan with the mean for each hour of all of the shifts in the patient's level of experiencing from before to after the interpretations, she found high correlations. They ranged from .6 to .8 in the three cases.


Conclusion
The patients suffer from unconscious pathogenic beliefs. They are highly motivated to work in therapy to disprove these beliefs. They work throughout therapy by testing the therapist. They work in accordance with an unconscious plan. The therapist's task is to help the patient to carry out his plan. The therapist does this by helping the patient to feel safe. He tries to help the patient feel safe by his attitude and approach, by passing the patients tests and by offering him pro-plan interpretations.


References

Broitman, J. (1985). Insight, the mind's eye: An exploration of three patients' processes of becoming insightful (Doctoral dissertation, Wright Institute Graduate School of Psychology). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1985, 46 (8b). (University Microfilms No. 85-20, 425)

Bugas, J. (1986). Adaptive regression in the therapeutic change process (Doctoral dissertation, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1986, 47 (7b). (University Microfilms No. 86-22, 826)

Caston, J. (1986). The reliability of the diagnosis of the patient's unconscious plan. In J. Weiss, H. Sampson, & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group (Eds.), The psychoanalytic process: Theory, clinical observation & empirical research. (pp. 241-255). New York: Guilford Press.

Davilla, L. (1992). The immediate effects of therapist's interpretations on patient's plan progressiveness. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, California School of Professional Psychology.

Fretter, P. (1984). The immediate effects of transference interpretations on patients' progress in brief, psychodynamic psychotherapy (Doctoral dissertation, University of San Francisco). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1985, 46 (6a). (University Microfilms No. 85-12, 112)

Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. Standard Edition, 4, 1-338; 5, 339-627. London: Hogarth Press, 1953.

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. Standard Edition, 18, 3-64. London: Hogarth Press, 1955.

Freud, S. (1926a). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. Standard Edition, 20, 77-175. London: Hogarth Press, 1959.

Freud, S. (1940b). Splitting of the ego in the process of defense. Standard Edition, 23, 272-278. London: Hogarth Press, 1964.

Miller, G.A., Galanter, E. & Pribram, A.H. (1960). Plans and the structure of Behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Colunstrom, 1960. Sampson, H. & Weiss, J. (1972). Defense analysis and the emergence therapy at Caltech, Archives of General Psychiatry, pp. 524-532.

Silberschatz, G., Sampson, H., & Weiss, J. Testing pathogenic beliefs versus seeking transference gratifications. In J. Weiss, H. Sampson, & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group (Eds.), The psychoanalytic process: Theory, clinical observation & empirical research. (pp. 267-276). New York: Guilford Press.

Weiss, J. (1971). The emergence of new themes: A contribution to the psychoanalytic theory of therapy. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 52 (4), 459-467.

Weiss, J. (1952). Crying at the happy ending. Psychoanalytic Review, 39 (4), 338.

Weiss, J., Sampson, H., & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group. (1986). The psychoanalytic process: Theory, clinical observation & empirical research. New York: Guilford Press.

Weiss, J. (1993). How psychotherapy works. New York: Guilford Press.

If you live outside of the Bay Area, SFPRG needs your help!

We want to present conferences on CMT outside of the Bay Area. Do you have connections with an organization that could either sponsor us or allow us use of a mailing list? We are APA approved so we can give CE hours anywhere in the U.S. If you know of an organization that would sponsor us, we can provide a lecturer; if you can get us a mailing list and leads on venues, we can do the rest.

Please contact Rob in our office (rob@sfprg.org) if you can help!

Save the dates!
August 17: Summer Samba
September 13: SFPRG Honorary Dinner Fundraiser
November 15: Conference with Dan Wile (title TBD)
December 6: Annual Art Show Reception and Auction

On December 6th we will hold our annual Art Show Reception and Auction. We are looking for donations for the auction. At last year's auction we had many great bottles of wine which folks had fun bidding on! If you can procure an item for auction, please let the office know. We are hoping for donations of wine, dinner certificates (ask your favorite restaurant if they donate to non-profits), vacation homes, tickets to shows (theater, concerts, sports), and of course, art. Anything you think would be a good auction item for our fundraiser, please donate it!

We would be happy to provide a receipt for tax records.

Note to artists - please think about what art you might like to show in December!