Our personalities affect the way we interact socially with others and how we manage the boundary of the interpersonal space. Developments in attachment theory have also demonstrated how a secure base in childhood can affect the development of what might be a ‘social mind’. In this talk, I will explore how attachment security influences the development of personality in childhood and adolescences; and the evidence that attachment insecurity can lead to disorganisation of the personality, and those conditions we call ‘personality disorder’. I will discuss what this work means for therapists and the evidence base about interventions for different kinds of personality disorder.

Join us at Victoria Arms in Old Marston for a discussion of issues and questions arising from Gwen Adshead talk on attachment and also from our own clinical experience. Come at 7pm and order a meal to eat with your OPS colleagues or join us before 8pm for the discussion over a drink.

This is the second of our Zoom discussions exploring the rich talk heritage of the OPS stored in our archives. To take part in this discussion, you will need to have listened to the talk on erotic transference described below. Go into the Archive section of the website, search for Maria Luca and it should come up instantly. Please register your interest in attending to admin@oxfordpsychotherapysociety.org.uk, ideally by Monday 27th March. You will then be sent a Zoom link for the discussion, with some questions to think about in advance.

A workshop on: working with the erotic and sexual attraction in therapy‚ issues and professional considerations with Dr Maria Luca

In this workshop, recorded on Oct 15th 2016, Dr. Luca encouraged the participants to abandon the traditional analytic view of the erotic transference as only being located in the client for defensive purposes, and explored the idea of the erotic as providing the capacity to heal. Despite the boundaries about entering a sexual relationship with a client being quite clear, it was important to reflect on the therapist’s own feelings about a client, and whether (s)he might unconsciously be eliciting sexual attraction. Reflecting on her own experience and on a wealth of research, Dr Luca shared a ‘recipe’ she has developed for working with erotic and sexual attraction.