Abstract:

Contextual Schema Therapy and the Four Dialogues: Using Chairwork to Challenge Inner Critic Modes and Develop the Capacity for

Self-Compassion

I believe that Contextual Schema Therapy (Roediger, Stevens, & Brockman, 2018) is a form of next-generation Schema Therapy. I have particularly struck by the way that this model: (1) affirms Attachment and Assertiveness as the two fundamental polarities of personality and the therapeutic process; (2) puts the strengthening of the Healthy Adult mode at the center of the therapeutic project; (3) integrates Third Wave approaches – especially self-witnessing and self-compassion – into the healing process; and (4) has shifted from the language of Parent Modes to that of Inner Critic Modes.

The discovery of the Four Dialogues (Kellogg, July 2018, Schema Therapy Bulletin) was significant because it provided a powerful and elegant model for effective psychotherapeutic action whether using Chairwork, Imagery, or more conversational forms of clinical encounter.

The Four Dialogues are:

(a) Giving Voice – which is way to engage with and better understand the purpose, motivation, and goals of a specific part or mode;
(b) Telling the Story – which provides patients with a chance to not only “share the unshareable” or tell the difficult stories, but also rework and heal them;
(c) Internal Dialogues – which involves the use of a range of mode dialogues with the ultimate goal of strengthening the Healthy Adult Mode, decreasing the power of the Inner Critic Modes, reducing the reliance on problematic Coping Modes, and nurturing and caring for the Vulnerable Child Mode.

(d) Relationships and Encounters – these dialogues are focused on the interpersonal sphere and not only allow for the expression of love, anger, fear, and grief, but also aid in the development of the capacity for assertiveness in interpersonal relationships.

This Four Dialogue model not only provides a framework for listening to patients, but also serves as a guide for taking effective action.

The goal of the workshop is to integrate some of the advances of Contextual Schema Therapy within the Four Dialogues model to empower clinicians to create more powerful dialogue-based interventions.

The workshop will be run in an active, creative, and therapeutically relevant manner using clinical story-telling, role-plays, and live demonstrations so that the participants will learn how to use Chairwork to:

(1) Engage with and Challenge the three Inner Critic Modes – Punitive, Demanding, and Protective (Roediger, Stevens, & Brockman, 2018; Stone & Stone, 1989)
(2) Develop the Self-Compassion Mode (Kellogg, 2014, in press; Neff, 2011)

If time permits, there will be an opportunity for case consultation.
The strengthening of the Healthy Adult Mode will be a guiding principle in the workshop.

Target Audience:

Schema Therapists who are particularly interested in further developing their skills in and understanding of experiential techniques.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will become familiar with the Four Dialogues and how these four stances can be used alone or in combination to strengthen their Schema Therapy work.
2. Participants will understand the differences among the three Inner Critic Modes – Punitive, Demanding, and Protective – and how to use Chairwork to (a) clarify which critic they are working with and (b) weaken the power of the Critic Modes while strengthening that of the Healthy Adult Mode.
3. Participants will learn how to use the Self-Compassion meditation as a method for developing the capacity for self-kindness

Level Of Experienced Required:

Advanced

About the Presenters:

Scott Kellogg

Dr. Scott Kellogg is an ISST-certified Advanced Schema Therapist who has also received training in both Gestalt Therapy and Voice Dialogue.  He created the Transformational Chairwork approach in 2008 and he currently teaching this method of psychotherapeutic dialogue to clinicians in both the United States and abroad.  Dr. Kellogg is in private practice in New York City.

Dr. Kellogg has served on the faculties of New York University, The Rockefeller University, and the Yale University School of Medicine.  He is the also the Past-President of the Division on Addictions of the New York State Psychological Association.

Dr. Kellogg is the author of Transformational Chairwork: Using Psychotherapeutic Dialogues in Clinical Practice (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).