Western Branch Canadian Psychoanalytic Society
Scientific Program | Saturday, June 20, 2015
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy
Judith Felman, MA, F.I.P.A.
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (D.I.T.) is a brief, 16 sessions therapy model developed in recent years by a team of renowned psychoanalysts at the Anna Freud Centre and the Tavistock Clinic: Peter Fonagy, Alessandra Lemma & Mary Target (2011). The approach is aimed at treating people presenting with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. The model is psychodynamic in nature. It aims to elucidate the patient’s object relationships, as they come to be expressed through the interpersonal narratives brought to the session, including the transference relationship. Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy encourages exploration of current and past relationships within a structured setting.
This model also borrows elements from other, more cognitive therapeutic approaches, in particular in the supportive structure it provides and in the use of mentalisation as a technique to enable and develop the patient’s curiosity in exploring his mind. The presentation is divided in two parts: the first part will entail an introduction to the D.I.T. model, its theoretical underpinning and a brief description of each of the three phases comprised in the model: the initial phase, which aims to devise a formulation of the interpersonal affective focus (IPAF), the middle phase and the ending phase. A clinical case followed by discussion will be presented in the second part.
Learning Objectives
1. To disseminate the awareness and knowledge of a contemporary approach of brief therapy – Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) – developed in recent years in the UK for the treatment of mild to moderate anxiety and depression.
2. To explore the feasibility/applicability of such approach to the Canadian Health Care System.
3. To promote the development of DIT training in Western Canada.
Application for accreditation with the Canadian Psychiatric Association is in process.
Judith Felman is an accredited D.I.T. therapist, supervisor and trainer in the UK, and an Associate of the Psychological Therapies Development Unit at the Tavistock Clinic. Judith moved to England in 1985, having graduated as a clinical psychologist from Bar Ilan University, Israel. In 1997 she was awarded the Tavistock Qualification in Adult Psychotherapy after completing a four year advanced psychotherapy training at the Tavistock Clinic. She went on to work as consultant clinical psychologist in the National Health Service and has since divided her work time between the NHS and private practice. Judith is registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and is a member of the British and International Psychoanalytic Associations (BPA and IPA).
