65th Annual Conference

Saturday, February 23

Morning Open Sessions

8:45 A.M. - 12:00 Noon

Session 316

The Technique of Partial Identification: Waking Up to the World

Louis R. Ormont Lecture

Presenter:         

Lucy Holmes, Ph.D., Private Practice, New York, New York

A capacity to make partial identification with others is a skill that brings group members out of the loneliness of narcissism and into the lively world of immediacy and progressive emotional communication. but developing partial identification will meet with different resistances in men and women. Dr. Holmes will define and demonstrate the concept of partial identification and discuss how the pathway to achieving the technique can differ along sexual lines.

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Define the concept of partial identification as a helpful technique in group dynamics.

2. Differentiate resistances to partial identification in men and women.
3. Select interventions to promote partial identification, which are sensitive to gender issues.
 

Course References:

1. Holmes, L. (2008). The Internal Triangle: New Theories of Female Development. New York: Jason Aronson. 

2. Ormont, L. (1991). The Group Therapy Experience. New York: St. Martin's Press.
3. Ormont, Louis R. (1999). Establishing transient identification in the group setting. Modern Psychoanalysis, 24:2.