TR Online Lecture Series

Pierre Cachia, Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Head of Tavistock Relationships’ Online Therapy Service, has been responsible for establishing and developing ground-breaking work in this area. In this online self-directed learning course he will share his expertise and learning from his experience of heading up the service and from his own clinical work.

Consideration will be given to the implications of using the internet for therapy, including ethical and legal issues, and there will be discussion of the technical challenges which face clinicians when working in this way.

The question will be addressed of whether online therapy is essentially the same as face-to-face therapy, requiring an extension of existing models, or whether it changes our ideas of what psychotherapy can do.

View below a video from Pierre Cachia showing sample footage from the three parts of this series:

Part 1 – The Online Medium: Characteristics, Opportunities and Limitations

Topics include:

• Terminology
• Digital Immigrants and  Digital Natives
• Psychic Space and Cyberspace
• The Online Disinhibition Effect
• Positive and Negative Aspects of Cyberspace
• The Culture of the Online Medium
• The Good and Bad of eTherapy

Part 2 – Technology in the Therapeutic Frame: Getting the Setting Right for Our Clients

Topics include:

• Computer System Requirements for Online Therapy
• How to Choose Your Videoconferencing Software
• Ensuring a Reliable Connection
• Selecting Hardware and Peripherals for Online Therapy
• Preparing a Suitable Clinical Space for Delivery of Online Therapy
• Being Well Prepared as a Clinician for Online Therapy
• Becoming an Online Patient
• Contingency Planning and Using Successful Protocols in Your Online Practice

Part 3 – Reflections from Online Practice: Interpretation and Therapeutic Intervention in Online Therapy.

Topics include:

• Management of Risk and Safeguarding Confidentiality
• Issues Around Jurisdiction and International Delivery
• Counter Indications for Online Therapy
• Working in a Different Frame
• Visual Composition as Communication
• What Does the Image from the Webcam Convey
• Implications of Operating in Cyberspace
• Reaching New Populations

View below sample footage of this course:

(Purchase of this course allows 3 months' access).

In this self-directed learning course Dr David Hewison, Head of Research and Ethics at Tavistock Relationships, presents a historical review of ideas about unconscious phantasy in couples. Following this he looks at how unconscious phantasies within a couple's relationship are defended against by various symptomatic interactions, each preferable to a feared catastrophe. Infidelity is looked at as one example of defence against catastrophe. Finally, some questions are presented for the clinician to hold in mind when considering this concept within a clinical setting.

View below a short video introduction to this course:

Topics broached in the question set include:

• Criteria that create risk of negative outcomes
  
• Effects of parental conflict at an early age
  
• Do outcome associated problems happen in isolation?
  
• Rather than overt aggression, can chronic disengagement of parents have a negative affect on a child's outcomes?
  
• What types of negative outcomes are experienced for children of different genders and ages?
  
• The influence of biological and genetic factors on susceptibility of the child
• The positive effects of couple-focussed interventions.

See introduction video below.

(For full-screen mode, click in the bottom right-hand corner of the video window. To come out of full-screen mode hit the ESC key on your keyboard). 

Marian O'Connor (Head of Training for Psychosexual Therapy at Tavistock Relationships) and Professor Brett Kahr (Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Senior Fellow at Tavistock Relationships) consider the compulsive use of the internet “being constantly drawn into the world of virtual relationships” and the questions this poses in regard to one’s capacity for intimacy within couple relationships.

Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, Brett opens and explores ideas about the internet as a psychological refuge for the mind.

In this wide-ranging discussion, the internet is viewed as a vehicle through which repressive mechanisms are exposed and the impact of this both on the individual and the couple.  

This 35 minute video seminar will be of interest to practitioners working with individuals and couples who are struggling to understand the meaning and management of the internet on their relationships.

See introduction video below:

In the following self-directed learning course on female disorders Couple/Individual Psychotherapist and Psychosexual Therapist Linsey Blair discusses a therapeutic approach towards:

• The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and categorisations
  
• Sexual Desire Disorder and Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder
  
• Basson’s Model of Female Sexual Desire
  
• The Female Anatomy and its Response During Sex
  
• Orgasms and Orgasmic Disorders
  
• The Ladder or Stages of Arousal
  
• Sexual Pain Disorders and their Causes:
  - Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder
  - Vaginismus
  - Dyspareunia
• Appropriate pH for a lubricant

In addition to the lectures a case study is presented, using the genogram as a tool to look at the issues involved. 

In this self-directed learning course Dr Damian McCann, Head of Development Learning at Tavistock Relationships, Dr Fiona Tasker, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, and Jess MacIntyre, Project Manager at LGBT Consortium, discuss same-sex parenting in relation to couple relationships.

See introduction video below:

Part 1 outlines:

• The Legal Process of Divorce
  
• Financial Proceedings
  
• Children Proceedings
  
• Psychological Requirements of the Legal Process.
  

• Developing a Model of a Couple
  
• Projective Identification
  
•  Role Responsiveness
  
• The Projective Cycle and the 'Couple Dance'.
  

Part 3 is about how people function when going through the process of divorce, outlining ideas such as:

• Types of Divorce
  
• What Happens to the Projective Cycle in Divorce and Separation?
  
• Why Are Divorce and Separation Stressful?
  
• Who Can Help in Each Area of Stress Involved?
  
• The Influence of Psychological Domains.
  
• The Impact of Divorce?
  
• Description of the Divorce and Separation Service at Tavistock Relationships.
  

View below a video from Dr Avi Shmueli discussing the content of this online course.

In this online self-directed learning course from Tavistock Relationships Online Lecture Series Dr Avi Shmueli, Psychoanalyst and Couple Psychotherapist, continues this series on divorce with a look at the different types of divorce and how people function when going through the process of divorce, outlining ideas such as:

• Types of Divorce
• What Happens to the Projective Cycle in Divorce and Separation?
• Why Are Divorce and Separation Stressful?
• Who Can Help in Each Area of Stress Involved?
• The Influence of Psychological Domains.
• The Impact of Divorce?
• Description of the Divorce and Separation Service at Tavistock Relationships.

____________________

View below a video from Dr Avi Shmueli discussing the content of this online course and the other two courses in the set which can be purchased separately (Psychological Processes in Divorce, Part 1 -  Introduction and Legal Process; and Psychological Processes in In Divorce, Part 2a - Model of a Couple and Couple Functioning).

In this self-directed learning course from the series on Psychological Processes in Divorce, Dr Avi Shmueli describes the development of a model of a couple and couple functioning, outlining ideas such as:

• Developing a Model of a Couple
  
• Projective Identification
  
• Role Responsiveness
  
• The Projective Cycle and the 'Couple Dance'.

____________________

View below a video from Dr Avi Shmueli discussing the content of this online course and the other two courses in the set which can be purchased separately (Psychological Processes in Divorce, Part 1 -  Introduction and Legal Process; and Psychological Processes in In Divorce, Part 2b - Types of Divorce and Couple Functioning in Divorce).

In this online self-directed learning course from Tavistock Relationships Online Lecture Series Dr Avi Shmueli, Psychoanalyst and Couple Psychotherapist introduces this series on Divorce and takes the viewer through the legal process involved.

The content outlines:

• The Legal Process of Divorce
  
• Financial Proceedings
  
• Children Proceedings
  
• Psychological Requirements of the Legal Process.
  

____________________

View below a video from Dr Avi Shmueli discussing the content of this first online course and the other two courses in the set which can be purchased separately (Psychological Processes in Divorce - Part 2a. Model of a Couple and Couple Functioning, and Psychological Processes in In Divorce - Part 2b. Types of Divorce and Couple Functioning in Divorce).