Translucence, Transparency, & Transformation : Psychodynamic Therapy with Trans Clients

Abstract
This session will explore a psychodynamic framework for working with transgender individuals and the treatment of gender dysphoria. Given the growing discourse regarding the legitimacy of transgender identities and treatments for gender dysphoria in the US and around the world, it is imperative that mental health practitioners are prepared to work with transgender individuals in ways that are both affirming and substantive. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a process-driven therapeutic framework which is focused on self-understanding and the exploration of emotions to the end of bringing unconscious material into consciousness. Through this process, previously "unknown" aspects of self and experience break through dissociative barriers and enter into the conscious mind where they can be acknowledged, grieved, and "mastered"--thus eliminating the need for repetitive unconscious processing or unwanted/painful repetitions of behavior.

Rooted in psychoanalytic theory, psychodynamic therapies are grounded in a deep relational context, a strict departure from analytic focus on innate "drives." However, psychodynamic therapies retain the richness of exploration of the unconscious mind and how this aspect of every human person is shaped by very early childhood relationships. Thus, psychodynamic therapies are rooted in a deep understanding of attachment bonds, how failures or ruptures in attachment impact the developing child, and how these relational wounds can only be addressed in the context of healing relationship.

Thus, this workshop will explore what a “healing relational context” looks like for transgender individuals. It will provide clear objectives for learning that the attendee will be able to utilize in tangible ways with their transgender clients, but will also provide a pathway for therapists to listen to themselves and their clients with an ear for the unconscious process. Participants will practice listening for unconscious process in transference and countertransference dynamics; explore ways to identify and move through therapist countertransferences of fear related to gender affirming surgeries; and will provide a psychodynamic theoretical framework for therapists to reference in their work with transgender clients.