Houston Psychoanalytic Society
Clinical Conference
Grappling With Trauma Treatment:
Ambiguities Confronting Psychodynamic Clinicians
Sheldon Itzkowitz, PhD
Saturday, April 20, 2024
10:00 AM - 3:30 PM Central Time

4.5 CME/CE Credits

Live via Zoom
*Pre-Registration required for Zoom invitation
This event will not be recorded

Registration Fees
HPS Active Members: $115
HPS Student Members: $70
Non-Members: $140

Instructional Level: Intermediate
Treating people suffering with trauma disorders present the clinician with several challenges and dilemmas. How does one diagnose and treat a trauma survivor from a psychodynamic or psychoanalytic perspective? How does the clinician understand changes in self-states, moods, and shifting affective states? Are we treating developmental trauma, or the kind of trauma that leads to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, see Criterion A in DSM-V). Is DID real? Some additional issues include working with multiple transferences and frequent enactments, working with parts who are unaware of their multiplicity, working through conflict and discord between parts who have co-consciousness, and addressing parts that are self-destructive and/or potentially harmful to others.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After attending the program in its entirety, attendees will be able to:
  1. define and describe trauma, PTSD and Complex PTSD.
  2. discuss and describe aspects of dissociative identity disorder.
  3. describe and discuss how to work with enactments and shifts in the relational field caused by changes in self-states.
Presenter
Dr. Shelly Itzkowitz is a graduate of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis where he is adjunct associate professor of psychology, and also clinical consultant and Guest Faculty, the Eating Disorders, Compulsions, and Addictions Program, at the William Alanson White Institute in New York. In addition, he is on the teaching and supervisory faculty of the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. Shelly is an Honorary Member of the William Alanson White Society. He is a Fellow and Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) and a recipient of their “Lifetime Achievement Award”.

Shelly has published several articles on the topics of trauma, dissociation, and DID and has presented his work on dissociation and dissociative identity disorder both nationally and internationally. He and Elizabeth Howell authored a chapter, “The Unconscionable In The Unconscious: The Evolution of Relationality In The Treatment of Trauma”, appearing in the recently published volume, Dissociation and the dissociative disorders: Past, present, future (2nd Edition). They are co-editors of their recently published book, Psychoanalysts, Psychologists and Psychiatrists Discuss Psychopathy and Human Evil, which received the 2021 Media Award-Written and the Sandor Ferenczi Award from ISSTD. They also co-edited The Dissociative Mind in Psychoanalysis: Understanding and Working with Trauma, which received the 2016 Media Award from ISSTD and was nominated for the 2017 Gradiva Award. Dr. Itzkowitz has a full time private practice in Manhattan working with individuals and couples and offers clinical consultations. 

REFERENCES
1) Itzkowitz, S., Chefetz, R.A., Hainer, M., Hopenwasser, K., & Howell, E.F. (2015). Exploring dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder: A roundtable discussion. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 12(1): 39-79.
2) Howell, E.F. (2014). Ferenczi's concept of identification with the aggressor: Understanding dissociative structure with interacting victim and abuser self-states. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 74: 48–59. 
3) Brand, B., Sar, V., Stavropoulos, P., Middleton, W. et. al. (2016). Separating fact from fiction: An empirical examination of six myths about Dissociative Identity Disorder. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 24(4): 257-270.
4) Howell, E.F. & Itzkowitz, S. (2022). The unconscionable in the unconscious: The evolution of relationality in the treatment of trauma. In M.J. Dorahy, S.N. Gold, & J.A. O’Neil (Eds.), Dissociation and the dissociative disorders: Past, present, future (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge, pp. 728-745.

IMAGE Illustration of identity issues from Can Stock.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Houston Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 4 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies* whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.

-Updated July 2021-
Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.
1302 Waugh Dr. #276, Houston, TX 77019
(713) 429-5810