Conference Presentation Tavistock Clinic


Working with Splitting and Projecting:
Therapeutic Skills and Insights



With speakers Dr Amanda Jones, Dr Noreen Giffney, Marianne Adams, Dr Judith Edwards and Dr Maggie Turp

Saturday 10 June 2017
Tavistock Centre 120 Belsize Lane London NW3


The aim of this day is to discuss how trauma can lead to the defense mechanism of splitting and projecting, and to examine why some people may be more reliant on this psychological strategy than others. We will consider how the propensity for splitting-off unwanted parts of the self or other, and thus removing the threat that these represent, can be psychotherapeutically resolved. Our speakers will ask what therapeutic interventions support the capacity to know and integrate all aspects of the self.

Marianne Adams
Mapping Beyond Certainty


This paper takes an overview of the human journey from conception to death, and considers how our own capacity and commitment as therapists to integrate those aspects of ourselves inevitably split off from consciousness, facilitates a progressively deep and unimpeded ability to see, feel and welcome those split off aspects of our client. This movement paves the way for our clients' re-introjection, integration and insight. A simple map illuminates this simple yet infinitely shape-shifting dynamic, rooted in early object relations.