Treating Fragility in Real Time: ISTDP Meets Mentalization (Video Workshop)

Overview

Dive into ISTDP & Mentalization techniques with real clinical videos in this online workshop!

Following our first workshop “ISTDP Meets Mentalization: Treating Fragility”, this follow-up clinical training offers a deeper and more practice-oriented focus.

This workshop will centre on the video presentation of a real clinical case, allowing participants to observe moment-to-moment therapeutic process and explore how ISTDP and Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) can be integrated when working with fragile, dysregulated, or structurally vulnerable patients.

Through guided teaching, clinical commentary, and group discussion, we will examine:

• How fragility presents in the therapeutic relationship
• How to maintain mentalizing while working with affective intensity
• When to apply ISTDP pressure or regulation strategies
• How to recognize ruptures, collapse, or defensive withdrawal
• Clinical decision-making in complex moment-to-moment work

This is an opportunity to learn directly from real-session material, with emphasis on clinical technique, therapist stance, and integration in practice.

Key Feature

First 2 hours: Video-based clinical teaching using a real clinical session.

Participants will be invited to reflect on interventions, process markers, and the balance between emotional mobilization and mentalizing capacity.

Timetable (5 Hours Total)

10:00 – 10:15
Welcome, orientation, aims of the day

10:15 – 12:15
Clinical Video Session (Part 1)
Real-case video material with guided pauses and teaching commentary
Focus: Fragility markers, regulation, mentalizing breakdowns

12:15 – 12:30
Break

12:30 – 13:45
Clinical Video Session (Part 2)
Deepening the work: intervention choices and integration of ISTDP + MBT

13:45 – 14:45
Integrative clinical discussion
Key principles for treating fragility across both models
Group reflection and Q&A

14:45 – 15:00
Closing, take-home points, next steps

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Identify clinical markers of fragility and structural vulnerability
• Understand how mentalizing capacity fluctuates under emotional pressure
• Apply ISTDP interventions while maintaining a mentalizing stance
• Recognize when to slow down, regulate, or deepen emotional work
• Integrate MBT and ISTDP principles in real-session decision-making

Who Is This Workshop For?

This workshop is suitable for:

• Psychotherapists and counsellors
• Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists
• ISTDP trainees and practitioners
• MBT-informed clinicians
• Mental health professionals working with complex presentations

Some familiarity with ISTDP or mentalization concepts is helpful, but the workshop is accessible to clinicians with general psychotherapy experience.

Clinical Confidentiality Note

All video material is used with appropriate consent and is presented for professional training purposes only. Recording, copying, or redistribution of clinical material is strictly prohibited.