An enduring tenet of psychoanalytic thinking is that early childhood experiences and traumas are the basis of adult neurosis. In traditional psychoanalysis, the process of discovering these traumas takes place with the patient pacing the process by using free association. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is an empirically developed instrument that over 70 years has been extensively researched. Richard Levak is the co-author of five books on the MMPI/MMPI-2. He has developed a way to use the instrument using collaborative assessment and therapeutic feedback, discovering possible traumatic conditioning experiences that explain current functioning. Current presenting problems are seen from this perspective as an adaptive response to past painful events rather than as manifestations as maladaptive behavior.
When
Where
CEUs
Cost
Educational Objective(s)
- learn the principle of “therapeutic feedback,” which involves using empirically generated data in a therapeutic non-judgmental manner.
- learn how to use empirical data to explore past conditioning experiences that lead to adaptive behavior that is traditionally labeled as “maladaptive.”
- learn how objective testing can provide the therapist with effective management of transference issues.
- learn how to integrate psychoanalytic thinking with empirically generated data.
Presenter Information
Richard Levak, PhD is recognized as an authority on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) and has co-authored five books on the subject. As a personality expert, he served as a consultant to reality-television programs from the beginning of that genre. He worked on Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, The Contender, Big Brother, and others, making accurate predictions about people’s behavior based on personality assessment. He is a Fellow of the San Diego Psychological Association and the Society for Personality Assessment and a Diplomate and Founding Member of the American Board of Assessment Psychology. Dr. Levak has appeared on television and radio programs locally and nationwide, including Chelsea, starring Chelsea Handler, Larry King Live, 20/20, Nightline, Anderson Cooper, and The Doctors. He has a weekly segment, Mind Matters, on San Diego’s Fox 5 news station. Dr. Levak also assists companies with executive hiring decisions and management development. Dr. Levak has a private practice in Del Mar.