Our Conference this year is about the "us and them" of impasse. It's about a few of the ways this craft of ours can seem undoable, the cases in which we feel ineffective despite the seeming adequacy of the therapeutic contract.

We recognize impasse when the patient seems to be saying the same things session after session with apparent understanding but no change, by our own sense of helplessness or by our own boredom or the sense that at least one of us is cheating the other. The affective climate of a therapeutic impasse can be friendly or unfriendly, thick or thin, rewarding or punishing; there's no easy clue or lab test for the early detection of an impasse. The moment a clinician recognizes the existence of an impasse and defines the therapeutic enterprise as stuck, stalled, or ineffective, is fraught with personal shame to which we respond with all the defenses we normally help our clients manage.

After all, why would anyone hire us to fix the easy scripts?

This conference is a chance to talk about what makes and keeps us stuck in our work. We'll present a series of contributions by and workshops with leading experts from our group, all of whom will discuss the path from failure to success. The goals of psychotherapy demand nothing less. You won't walk away knowing how to do everything perfectly and forever, but you may very well climb to another level of understanding and competence.

Conference Objectives

	Through participation in this program, you should be able to:
1.	Recognize impasse as important information emerging from the therapeutic process and a source of clues for change.
2.	Identify the affects and scripts responsible for the impasse or triggered by it.
3.	Implement therapeutic modalities that open accessory channels to awareness.
4.	In couples work, utilize stagnation points to enhance intimacy and increase emotional congruence/intelligence.

 
Expected Outcome:
Course participants will understand the application of the psychology of affect and script to psychotherapeutic treatment. Professionals at all levels of training and skill will be able to master the therapeutic techniques presented in this conference. Primary to the outcome of this conference is enhancement of the competence needed to identify and resolve therapeutic impasse through the implementation of new strategies and collegial interaction.

7:00 - 10:00 PM
Basic psychology of affect and script
The foundations of the Philadelphia System Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD; Donald L. Nathanson, MD; Brett Schur, PhD

8:30 - 8:45 Welcome
Brett Schur, PhD

8:45 - 10:00
Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD
Overcoming Impasse: Expanding the Potential for Change
Tomkins stated that personality formation involves patterns formed by the degree and style of modulation learned for each of the nine innate affects. Sometimes psychotherapy fails because the therapeutic process itself does not encourage enough affect to cultivate the development of new scripts. Therapy can become both more complex and more satisfying for both partners if such systems can be destabilized.

10:00 - 10:15 Break

10:15 - 10:20
Donald L. Nathanson, MD
Presentation of the Fifth Michael Franz Basch Memorial Award

10:20 - 11:45
The Michael Franz Basch Award Lecture
Richard P. Kluft, MD
Four Consultations: From Quagmires to Collaborations
Recognition of a hopeless predicament can lead to an entirely new therapeutic relationship capable of producing significant beneficial change. Each of us can act as consultant to our peers in order to shift the therapeutic process in this direction.

11:45 - 12:45 Lunch

12:45 - 2:00 Panel Discussion:
When the impasse is between the helpers - Developing a new language
Robert E. Desmond, MD; Brett Schur, PhD; Clifford Taylor, MD; Alan R. Wofsey, MD
The language of affect and script can facilitate communication between psychotherapist and prescriber. In order to maximize the efficacy and efficiency of the healing partnership, it is essential that we learn how to talk with each other rather than assume that each will see the case from the same perspective.

2:00 - 3:15
Jeanette Wright, MS
When Words Themselves Become the Impasse
Sometimes words conceal emotions or prove inadequate to express them. What if we therapists could break a verbal impasse by inviting the client to mold in clay or draw on paper what is going on inside? This presentation will include visual vignettes showing how easy it is to harness ordinary creativity and resolve therapeutic impasse.

3:15 - 3:30 Break

3:30 - 5:00
Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., MD and Wesley G. Novak, PhD
Impasses in Couples Treatment:
Attempts at love and emotional connection often result in stagnation. Couples therapy offers a unique opportunity to identify these hidden roadblocks and foster the development of more emotionally connected interactions. The speakers will offer a detailed map for emotional connection, a classification of couple impasses, and intervention strategies based on the psychology of affect and script.

7:00
DINNER and ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING OF THE SILVAN S. TOMKINS INSTITUTE

8:30 - 9:45
Donald L. Nathanson, MD:
Asking for Help, Helping Who Ask
A few new categories for the occasional impossible case. When and why do we need help with our difficult cases, where do we look for assistance, with whom do we discuss our cases, and what do we want from a consultant? At each level of therapeutic complexity we can identify a personal strategy that allows us to practice at our best.

9:45 - 10:00 Break

A Brief Note About Master Classes and Workshops:
Same deal as at Colloquium 2000 with a few different speakers. We've convinced some of our best and best known experts to work in an open, friendly format on your own clinical questions. An attempt will be made for each participant to present part of a case, but the success of these small classes will be directly proportional to the care with which you choose your material. Master classes are about personal interaction, a chance to interact with people you respect and who love to teach. In a Workshop, the leader(s) will provide new information about their own work. You'll make choices on a card sent with the registration materials, and the actual assignments will be made known at the meeting.

10:00 - 11:00
Master Classes (MC) and Workshops (W): First Course

Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD
Tomkins-Talk Unplugged (W)
Vigorous discussion of Affect Theory on our Listserv has intensified this year, with pronounced emphasis on clarification of Tomkins's actual meaning and attempts to validate it through currently available scientific technique. Today we build on the highly successful workshop presented at Colloquium 2000 and encourage members to discuss issues face to face in a friendly setting.

Joseph Izzo, MSW
Franchising the Disenfranchised (W)
The language of affect cuts across all classes, races, nationalities, and genders. Nevertheless, the scripts adopted by those who are powerless in a society tend to ensure failure to improve their lives. When we teach people how to express their affects in ways that can be understood and accepted by others, true change is fostered.

Ralph Jaffe, MSW, PsyD
"You have reached the top of a 100ft flagpole. One more step!" (MC)
Zen masters have long used this koan to bring their disciples to the brink of impasse as a challenge to reach a new level of enlightenment. Similarly, a therapeutic impasse often precedes a major treatment breakthrough. This involves the willingness of client and therapist to leap into the unknown, to move beyond habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It takes great skill to figure out whether your client is ready for the perfect leap or needs an entirely new flagpole.

Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., MD
Couples Therapy Techniques In The Philadelphia System (MC)
Dr. Kelly's original contribution of a couples therapy based on the psychology of affect and script is an integral part of what has become known as The Philadelphia System. In an interactive class, he will share insights from 30 years of practice.

Marsha Schwartz Klein, MEd
Addiction-Based Impasse (MC)
Addictive behavior is initiated in order to manage unbearable affect, and especially within psychotherapy comes to act as a barrier to useful and necessary expression of affect. Perhaps unique to this cohort are the ways the therapist must instruct the client how to identify whatever remnants of innate affect can be detected through the veil of addiction, and to facilitate normal expression of that affect.

Donald L. Nathanson, MD
From Insult to Injury ® : A Plan to End School Violence (W)
The SSTI's program to teach working clergy of all faiths about our work on the relation between explosive violence and perceived humiliation is well into the second of four planned phases. We'll discuss our work so far and talk about plans for near term research.

11:00 - 12:00
Master Classes and Workshops: Second Course

Brian F. Lynch, MD
From Insult to Injury® : A Plan to End School Violence (W)
The SSTI's program to teach working clergy of all faiths about our work on the relation between explosive violence aIatrogenic Impasse: The Bane of Contemporary Health Care (W) The medical model, based as it is on signs and symptoms that can be validated or explained in the laboratory, tends to ignore and marginalize information made salient by affect. Substantial improvement in health care delivery might be realized were affect psychology integrated into all health care delivery systems.

Donald L. Nathanson, MD
Talking About Our Cases (MC)
An opportunity to discuss specific cases from your own practice and learn more about the unique approaches offered by The Philadelphia System.

Wesley G. Novak, PhD and Lee Anderson, PhD
Living with Loss - Making Time for Tears (W)
After a significant loss, one's dreams, images, and defining purpose are often obscured by disguised expressions of distress affect. The therapeutic process becomes "unstuck" when therapist and patient are able to locate the buried pool of images/scenes brought to awareness through the open expression of the patient's "tears." We'll present intervention strategies from a specific psychology of loss and a template for the dynamics and manifestations of distress. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their own experiences in working/living with loss.

Alan R. Wofsey, MD; Robert E. Desmond, MD; Clifford Taylor, MD
Working With a Psychopharmacologist (MC)
To the extent that the clinician understands psychopharmacology as support for the normal plasticity of the affect system, it is essential that therapists who practice widely ranging methods learn optimal modes of communication. This workshop will be successful to the extent that attendees bring their own clinical material for discussion.

Jeanette Wright, MS
Entering the Image (MC)
Long celebrated at the Tomkins Institute for the ease with which she teaches the use of visual media as modes for expression of what has been hidden by otherwise unapproachable scripts, Jeanette Wright will offer fellow clinicians an opportunity to consult with her about their most difficult cases. The ticket for admission to this Master Class will be a drawing or other piece of client work.

12:00 - 1:30 Lunch and More
From Insult to Injury® : A Plan to End Youth Violence
A report by Dr. Nathanson about continuing SSTI activities on this complex project. Wrap-up of Clinical Conference. Fill out and hand in Continuing Education Questionnaire. End of Meeting.

Robert E. Desmond, MD, a psychiatrist in private practice in Lansdale, PA, has long been interested in the psychology of affect and script as applied to the treatment of dissociative disorders and affective illness. In 1989 he organized and spoke at the 17th Annual Friends Hospital Conference, "New Directions in Psychotherapy" at which Professor Tomkins gave one of his last public presentations. Currently, he is collaborating with Dr. Nathanson on a study of the clinical utility of the Affect Pattern Chart.

Jonathan L. Grindlinger, MD, is Training Director of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, practices psychiatry in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and has become a widely recognized consultant to psychotherapists from all realms of practice.

Joseph A. Izzo, MA, MSW, is a practicing psychotherapist at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, where he provides individual and group psychotherapy to people living with HIV/AIDS who are also racial and sexual minorities living on marginal incomes.

Ralph Jaffe, MSW, PsyD, is a clinical social worker, psychologist, and personal coach with a private practice in Elkins Park and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Buddhist practitioner for the past 25 years, he has lived in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan and currently practices in the Mahayana and Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., MD, co-founder of the SSTI and its first Training Director, is well known as the developer of an innovative system of couples therapy based on the Tomkins-Kelly Blueprint for intimacy. In addition to his clinical practice, Vick is highly regarded throughout the Philadelphia area as a clinical supervisor.

Marsha Schwartz Klein, MEd, is a member of the Executive Committee of the SSTI, one of the leading substance abuse therapists in the Philadelphia area, and widely sought as a supervisor of clinicians.

Richard P. Kluft, MD, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practicing in Bala Cynwyd, PA. He is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine and on the faculty of the Philadelphia Center for Psychoanalysis. He has written and taught extensively in the fields of trauma, dissociation, and therapist/patient sexual exploitation.

Brian F. Lynch, MD, is a Board Certified Family Practitioner in Chicago and a clinical Preceptor at the University of Illinois. A third of his practice is devoted to psychotherapy groups based on the psychology of affect and script.

Donald L. Nathanson, MD, founding Executive Director of the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, is also Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College, author of more than 100 articles and books, and internationally known for the development of The Philadelphia System of psychotherapy. At the suggestion of President Clinton, he was appointed to the Academic Advisory Council of the National Campaign Against Youth Violence.

Wesley G. Novak, PhD, is a psychologist in private practice in Wilmington, DE, with a lifelong interest in affect-based psychotherapy. An active member of the Executive and Continuing Education Committees of the SSTI, he has been a core contributor to the organization's groundbreaking work on the psychology and psychotherapy of distress.

Brett E. Schur, PhD, a private practice Psychologist in Southeastern Pennsylvania, specializes in the psychotherapy of adults with medical disabilities, and recently has worked in anger management. Many will remember his 1998 SSTI Colloquium workshop on aspects of affect and script revealed in projective testing.

Clifford Taylor, MD, is a psychiatrist in private practice in Morristown, NJ, working with adolescents and adults. He co-authored the popular book If You Think You've Got Seasonal Affective Disorder: A Dell Guide For Mental Health.

Alan R. Wofsey, MD, Chief of Psychiatry at Lankenau Hospital in suburban Philadelphia, practices adult and adolescent psychiatry. He's written pamphlets for his patients on the role of shame in adolescent development and on family relationships, and often comments that "Affect Theory is the Unified Field Theory of modern psychology."

Jeanette Wright, MS, was trained as an art therapist and practices in Des Moines, Iowa. A popular SSTI speaker, her innovative system of image-oriented psychotherapy, based on the psychology of affect and script as well as self-psychology, has also been taught at meetings of the American Psychiatric Association and throughout the Midwest.

By train: Amtrak serves Philadelphia via 30th Street Station, from which you can take a taxi directly to Jefferson Alumni Hall.

Driving: From the South (including Philadelphia International Airport) take I-95 North to Exit 16-Columbus Blvd. Go left (north) on Columbus Blvd., then left on Dock Street. Bear right when it splits. Turn left (west) on Walnut Street, left (south) on 10th Street one block to Locust. The Alumni Hall is on the far left corner. Park in the garage on 10th Street between Walnut and Locust at your own expense.

From the West: I-76 East to Center City Philadelphia. (Stay on I-76 when it leaves the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia.) Exit South Street, then left (east) on South Street. Turn left (north) on 11th Street. You may park in the garage on the corner of 10th and Locusts Streets at your own expense.

From New Jersey, New York, and New England: Follow signs from the New Jersey Turnpike for the Ben Franklin Bridge. From the Bridge, follow signs to I-676. Take I-676 to the first exit, Broad Street. Proceed south to Locust Street. Turn left (east) on Locust. The Alumni Hall is between 11th and 10th Streets. You may park in the garage on the corner of 10th and Locusts Streets at your own expense.

Who may attend:
Any mental health practitioner. Clinicians and graduate students currently enrolled in a training program are welcome. Those who do not have such training may write for special consideration.

$15 more for on-site registration. In order to qualify for the membership rate you must have joined the SSTI before the meeting or with your Conference application. Fee includes refreshments, lunch Saturday and Sunday, and handouts.

Requests for refunds must be submitted in writing and accompanied by a copy of your confirmation letter. Full refund, less $50 administrative charge, will be given for requests postmarked by 1 April 2002. No refunds will be given for requests made after that date, although fully paid registrants unable to attend will be sent the tape album and handouts. Charge for returned checks is $20.

* Students in Degree Granting Programs, Residents, and Psychoanalytic Candidates. Please provide letter from training supervisor documenting student status.

Accreditation:
The basic program (Saturday and Sunday) involves 11 hours of instruction, and the optional Friday evening lecture/seminar an additional 3 hours, all of which is eligible for continuing education credit.

The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute, provider #1057, is approved as a provider for social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) www.aswb.org phone: 800-225-6880, through the Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute maintains responsibility for the program. Social workers will receive up to 14 continuing education clock hours in participating in this course.

The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute maintains responsibility for the program.

The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute is approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to sponsor Category 1 continuing education programs.

The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute has applied to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Board of Social Work Examiners and the Pennsylvania Chemical Abuse Certification Board for permission to grant continuing education credits to social workers licensed in Pennsylvania and PCACB licensed professionals.

Hotel Accommodations:
For your convenience, a block of rooms has been reserved at the:
Omni Hotel at Independence Park ($149 Single/Double)
Fourth & Chestnut Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-0000 or
(800) THE-OMNI
(800) 843-6664

Please call the Omni directly for reservations. To receive the special rate, you must mention the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute Conference. Reservations made after 19 March 2002 will be based on availability and may not receive the preferred rate.

There's a membership dinner Saturday night, and we think you'll enjoy getting together with your colleagues and friends. Sent along with the other material you get when you sign up will be a formal invitation and sample menu.

On Site Bookstore
The Joseph Fox Bookshop of Philadelphia will offer for sale the major works of Silvan Tomkins, as well as books both written and recommended by Conference faculty. Shipping will also be available for those who both prefer not to carry their purchases and can delay gratification sufficiently.

Accessibility
All facilities in use during the Conference are accessible via wheelchair, as is the hotel. Let us know in advance if you require special assistance or if we can assist you in any way. Contact our Administrator or Chairperson at the addresses or phone numbers below. During the meeting, our Administrator will be available outside the Auditorium for any concerns or needs. More information? Send email to Julie Franklin, SSTI and Conference Administrator, for information about registration, directions, or hotel accommodations. Call us from anywhere: 800-317-1669.

For information about the program or faculty, send email to Brett Schur, PhD, Conference Chairperson, or call him at 610-259-7150. Check the Silvan S. Tomkins Institute home page where you will learn more about our Institute itself. You can also read more about our work and ideas by monitoring the Shame and Affect Theory Forum at Behavior OnLine for ongoing discussion of many of these topics.