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Digital Seminar

Confrontation Without Defensiveness


Faculty:
Ellyn Bader, PhD
Duration:
1 Hour 51 Minutes
Copyright:
21 Mar, 2025
Product Code:
NOS096469
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.


Description

Like it or not, confrontation is a necessary part of all therapy. Maybe your client comes into therapy with grand pronouncements: “I’m all in—I'll do the work!” And for a little bit, it seems like they’ll follow through. But when you bring up, even gently, the ways in which they’re undermining their goals, they deny, diffuse, or become defensive, and the work stalls. In this workshop, you’ll discover the six skills that are proven to help clients take accountability without triggering defensiveness. Using video from actual client sessions—including moments of confrontation—we’ll break down the “confrontation cycle,” walking through techniques that move clients forward, instead of causing them to regress or feel attacked. You’ll learn how to: 

  • Prime clients for moments of confrontation  

  • Use confrontation in individual and couples sessions 

  • Recognise and process your own emotional reactions during confrontation of all sorts, including soft, empathetic, and indirect 

  • Help clients confront themselves 

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.



CPD

PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This program is worth 2 hours CPD for points calculation by your association.



Handouts

Faculty

Ellyn Bader, PhD's Profile

Ellyn Bader, PhD Related seminars and products

The Couples Institute


Ellyn Bader, Ph.D., is in private practice and is Co-Director of The Couples Institute in Menlo Park, California. Over the past 25 years she has conducted professional training programs in couples therapy and has trained therapists throughout the United States as well as Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. She is a past president of the International Transactional Analysis Association and a recipient of the Clark Vincent Award for an outstanding literary contribution to the field of marital therapy from the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Dr. Bader is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences. She and her husband, PETER PEARSON, Ph.D., coauthored the books, “In Quest of the Mythical Mate: A Developmental Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment in Couples Therapy” (Brunner/Mazel) and “Tell Me No Lies: How to Face the Truth and Build an Honest Marriage” (St. Martin’s Press).


Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Ellyn Bader is the director of The Couples Institute and receives compensation as a consultant. She receives royalties as a published author. Ellyn Bader receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Ellyn Bader is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Transactional Analysis Association, and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

 


Additional Info

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com


Objectives

  1. Describe at least three confrontation skills to create accountability in defensive clients.
  2. Define three elements of an effective confrontation.
  3. Distinguish positive motivations for one spouse to confront the other.

 

Outline

What is confrontation and why is it necessary in therapy? 

What is involved in skillful confrontation 

The 6 types of confrontation 

Confrontation challenges the therapist 

The confrontation cycle 

Symbiotic beliefs and regressive patterns that require skillful confrontation 

Preparing a client for a confrontation 

How to decide whether a confrontation should be made by the client themselves, by their spouse or by the therapist 

Video demonstrations  

Risks and Limitations 

Target Audience

  • Counsellors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Physicians 
  • Psychologists

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