This is a self-experience and self-expression workshop for professionals working with psychotic patients. The goal is to help develop the participant's faculty of countertransference into an effective psychotherapeutic "pacing-and-leading" instrument. The method is adopted one-to-one from a group therapy form called «Phantasy Therapy». «Phantasy Therapy» is used in both stationary and ambulatory psychiatric settings for the treatment of acute and remitting psychotic patients.

During the workshop, participants will partake in «Phantasy Therapy» on two successive days:

• 1. Morning (2 hours): Introduction of Theme, experience of theme-related transitional object, transformation of theme into body gesture and movement, theme-related fairytale.
  
  
• 1. Afternoon (3 hours): Active Imagination of theme, concretisation and progressive positivation of the inner pictures into color and form, group presentation and discussion of the individual series of positivised pictures.
  
  
• 2. Morning (2 hours): Vivification of the individual series via movement and music.
  
  
• 2. Afternoon (3 hours): Theory (ca. 1.5 hours); the remainder of the afternoon remains open for questions, answers, discussion and further practical excercises.

To «Phantasy Therapy»: «Phantasy Therapy» is a special form of group psychosis therapy conceived in 1995 and further developed in collaboration with my colleagues within the context of our daily work on the acute and rehabilitation wards of General Psychiatry in the Cantonal Psychiatric Clinic Rheinau (since 1.1.2002: General Psychiatry ipw): Schmid, G. B., Eisenhut, R., Rausch, A., Ito, K., Dämpfle, S., Frei, K., Giacometti Bickel, G. (2000). Phantasietherapie: In der Phantasie die Realität wieder finden. «Das praktische Gerüst». Forum für Kunsttherapie, 2, 34-49; Schmid, G. B., Eisenhut, R., Rausch, A., Ito, K., Dämpfle, S., Frei, K. (2002). Phantasy Therapy in Psychiatry: Rediscovering Reality in Phantasy. A Special Treatment for In- and Outpatients in General Psychiatry. Forschende Komplementär Medizin, in print.. The method is closely related to G. BENEDETTI's technique of "Progressive Therapeutic Mirror Imaging" and to J.P. ZINDEL's "Active Introjection of the Therapist". All three methods integrate several elements of hypnosis therapy as discussed in Schmid, G. B. (2001). Die Bedeutung Benedettis für die Therapie der Schizophrenie. Zu Ehren von Gaetano Benedetti. Forum für Kunsttherapie, 1/2, 3-19.. «Phantasy Therapy» has recently found a profound resonance with professionals of all disciplines (psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychology, art therapy, movement & dance therapy, music therapy etc.) in Japan where we have also conducted self-experience and self-expression workshops similar to the one offered here.

The workshop is organized by the Swiss Medical Society for Hypnosis (SMSH).

The workshop takes place in Hotel Kreuz-Rössli-Kornhaus in Balsthal, Switzerland.

For a map (in German) to Balsthal, Switzerland from your home in A, Ch or D: routeweb.de

For a map (in English) to Balsthal, Switzerland from anywhere else in the world: mapblast.com

Benedetti, G. (1994). Todeslandschaften der Seele: Psychopathologie, Psychodynamik und Psychotherapie der Schizophrenie. (4 ed.). Göttingen, Zürich: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Lavoie, G. & Elie, R. (1985). The clinical relevance of hypnotizability on psychosis: with reference to thinking processes and sample variances. In D. Waxman, P. C. Misra, M. Gibson, & M. A. Baker (Eds.), Modern trends in hypnosis. New York, London: Plenum Press.
Schmid, G. B. (1997). Chaostheoretische Betrachtungen zu Psychiatrie, Psychologie und Psychotherapie. Teil 2: Neue Hypothese zur Natur der Psychose. Forschende Komplementärmedizin / Research in Complementary Medicine, 4(4), 194-208.
Schmid, G. B., Eisenhut, R., Rausch, A., Ito, K., Dämpfle, S., Frei, K., & Giacometti Bickel, G. (2000). Phantasietherapie: In der Phantasie die Realität wieder finden. «Das praktische Gerüst». Forum für Kunsttherapie, 2, 34-49.
Schmid, G. B., Eisenhut, R., Rausch, A., Ito, K., Dämpfle, S., & Frei, K. (2002). Phantasy Therapy in Psychiatry: Rediscovering Reality in Fantasy. A Special Treatment for In- and Outpatients in General Psychiatry. Forschende Komplementär Medizin, in print (ca. September 2002).
Schmid, G. B. (2002). Die Bedeutung Benedettis für die Therapie der Schizophrenie. Zu Ehren von Gaetano Benedetti. CH Hypnose Bulletin, XII(1), 4-22. (Ursprünglich und etwas ausführlicher erschienen in: Schmid, G. B. (2001). Die Bedeutung Benedettis für die Therapie der Schizophrenie. Zu Ehren von Gaetano Benedetti. Forum für Kunsttherapie, 1/2, 3-19.)
Vas, J. (1993). Hypnose bei Psychosen: Eigenschaften der hypnotischen Beziehung bei der Psychotherapie schwer gestörter Patienten. München: Quintessenz Bibliothek.
Zindel, J. P. (1997). Die Technik der aktiven Introjektion des Therapeuten: Ein hypnoanalytischer Zugang bei tief gestörten Patienten. Hypnose und Kognition, 14(1+2), 47-53.

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