Abstract:

The Coronavirus pandemic has created a seismic shift in the psychotherapeutic community, as the use of online communication tools has completely replaced the ordinary face-to-face sessions we are all accustomed to. This shift creates new challenges to the therapeutic relationship. These challenges are not only clinical, but also relate to our ethical obligations towards our patients. 

In this short lecture, I wish to shed a light on an ethical challenge, that is particularly noteworthy for schema therapists, as compared with other forms of psychotherapy - and is especially salient during these times.

Afterwards, I would like to suggest a way in which Schema Therapy’s unique language and set of techniques, may allow us to identify these unintentional ethical pitfalls in the therapeutic relationship, and to help us navigate around them successfully.

About the Presenters:                   

Itay Shuv-Ami:

Dr. Itay Shuv-Ami is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Formerly the acting director of the emergency room of the Tel Aviv Community Mental Health Center, he is currently in private practice in the Tel Aviv area. He teaches and supervises at the rehabilitative and clinical psychology programs at Bar Ilan University, and is a faculty member at the post graduate program in psychotherapy at Tel Aviv University . He taught workshops in Schema Therapy for Cluster C personality disorders and was the keynote speaker at the Israeli National Convention of Schema Therapy . He is a member of the task force for the foundation of the Israeli Schema Therapy Society .