Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are not immune from having to confront suicidality, and many of us do not understand what happens when a patient ends up in an emergency department to be assessed for psychiatric hospitalization.

The air is often thick with transference and countertransference, as the unconscious of both the therapist and patient can collide in a battle of anxiety regulation and desperation on multiple fronts.

This class will explain what typically happens when a patient ends up in an emergency department, and how decisions are made on whether or not to psychiatrically hospitalize a patient.  For the purposes of this class, we will be focusing on clients who have private insurance and what the process is for this population specifically.  We will then reflect on our own countertransference reactions to suicide, and explore how Phillip Bromberg’s theory of dissociation and multiplicity of the self can be applied to both therapist and patient when the threat of suicide emerges in the treatment, and decisions have to be made about the most appropriate course of action.

Reading will be assigned before the class.

Instructor: Erin Wright (she/her) is a psychotherapist, supervisor, and consultant.  Her practice is located in South Lake Union in Seattle.  She has had experience working in an emergency department assessing patients for psychiatric hospitalization, and has seen first hand the many anxieties that can get going in the therapist and patient when it comes to suicidal ideation.  She is Co-President of NWAPS, and on the board of the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education.  She enjoys playing with the edges of what is traditionally considered psychoanalytic, and has experience teaching and presenting on topics ranging from relational psychoanalytic theory, suicidal patients in the emergency department, and the burgeoning field of psychedelic medicine.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the role of the ER in suicide prevention
• Determine whether or not a client needs to be sent to the ER – therapist evaluation of imminent risk of danger to self, others, and/or grave disability
• Understand the appropriate contacts that need to be made at the hospital by the clinician when a client is sent to the ER
• Be able to describe how Bromberg’s theory of dissociation and multiplicity of the self can be applied to clients and therapists when encountering suicidal ideation in the client
• The therapist will understand their own countertransference reactions to suicidal ideation in their clients.

Fees: $100 for Members and $130 for non-members.
Class Size: Class is limited to a maximum of 20 participants.
Refund Policy: Refunds less a $35 handling fee will be given up until one week before the first class.

This presentation has been approved for a total of 2.5 CE’s for licensed mental health counselors and associates, marriage and family therapists and social workers by the Washington State Society for Clinical Social Work.