Friday, May 31, 2024

5:00 PM - 6:15 PM

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Overview

Keynote & 'Wrap Up of the Day' with Fast Forward

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Details

In Jeffrey Young’s initial thinking the Healthy Adult mode was primarily an internalization of the therapist’s reparenting behaviors, notably the ability to sooth the vulnerable child mode, set limits to the externalizing child modes, and combat punitive/demanding parent modes. Hence, its function seemed primarily regulation of dysfunctional schema modes. Interestingly, while working with patients with severe personality problems, therapists discovered two things. First, the reduction of strength and frequency of vulnerable child externalizing child, and combat punitive/demanding parent modes seemed to involve not only internalized reparenting actions towards these modes – rather the modes themselves changed. Second, the Healthy Adult mode seemed important not only to cope in a functional way with activation of dysfunctional modes, but also in developing functional ways to get “normal” human needs met. Similarly, empirical research indicated that the Healthy Adult mode is generally not very central in the network of dysfunctional modes, indicating that the Healthy Adult mode is not a simple opposite of dysfunctional modes. Moreover, research into mechanisms of change during treatment indicated that the increases in the Healthy Adult mode, next to decreases in the Vulnerable Child mode, are pivotal in change in personality pathology. Hence, research also indicates that the function of the Healthy Adult mode is wider than self-regulation of dysfunctional modes. These observations remind of the fundamental findings that positive emotions are not the opposite of negative emotions, and that happiness is not the opposite of sadness. In this presentation I will share research, both clinical and qualitative, as well as clinical observations that help to understand how the Healthy Adult mode is of importance in the recovery process during therapy; especially if we aim not only a reduction of psychopathology, but also a development of a fulfilling life. I will argue that development of an Healthy Adult mode is essential for issues such as making healthy choices, especially in the later phases of therapy, particularly when this mode is weakly developed. Despite its importance, I will also argue against a treatment mainly focusing on the Healthy Adult mode

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Speaker