Live Stream: Monday, September 23rd | 8am-9am
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Tessa Gittleman, MA, LMFT
Presenter Bio: Tessa “Tess” Gittleman, MA, LMFT, is an AAMFT and MN BBHT Approved Supervisor, working in private practice in Golden Valley, and is the current Treasurer for MAMFT. Tessa’s specialty is in working with individuals whose success at work doesn’t translate to interpersonal success, and often feel like failures. Many of these clients have OCPD. Tessa also works as an organizational consultant and public speaker where she focuses on helping businesses think through the “Emotional Economics” of their practices, the “Emotional Infrastructure” needed for increased sustainability, and how to best manage the internal polarity that cultural and generational differences compound in the workplace.
Description: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is one of the most common personality disorders in the US, affecting 3-8% of the US population. Despite its prevalence, it is often eclipsed in education, research, practice, and culture, by other personality disorders, like Borderline Personality Disorder, which affects 1.4%, or its clinical cousin, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which affects 2-3% of the US population. This discrepancy leaves clinicians under-prepared to support people and relationships impacted by the unique set of issues that OCPD brings forth. Consequently, clients with OCPD, many of whom experience distress from their acute awareness of the problem and feel helplessness in being able to “fix it,” can leave therapy feeling even more misunderstood, broken, and hopeless. In this presentation, you will learn how to differentiate the pervasive pattern of perfectionism, rigidity, and rules from other, more familiar disorders. You will be able to understand how OCPD personality traits, such as a commitment to extreme efficiency or a preoccupation with structures and equity, can result in both occupational/academic success and interpersonal catastrophe. You will understand what about that personal paradox increases acute distress for these clients, and why they often experience a “Crisis of Competence” before reaching out for help. You will hear about what modalities and approaches have had success in helping clients work through these issues, and develop more clinical skills for overcoming the opposition, frustration, and stuckness that this population can present with in therapy. Before the conclusion of this presentation, you will have the opportunity to hear a case presentation and participate in a Q&A with the presenters. If the training is successful, you will feel you have the clinical competence to ensure you aren't doing harm to these clients, even if you find you're not the best person to help them long-term.
Objectives:
1. Increase clinical competence diagnosis and working with OCPD individuals
2. Identify common traits, developmental patterns, and primary features of OCPD in both typical and a-typical presentations
3. Be able to differentiate OCPD from other disorders, as well as correlated conditions
4. Understand the impact of OCPD on individuals, relationships, and society
5. Learn clinical interventions that benefit people with OCPD
