Understanding Transference and Countertransference in Eating Disorders: A Mentalization-Based Perspective

This presentation examines the intricate dynamics of transference and countertransference in the psychotherapeutic treatment of eating disorders through the lens of mentalization-based therapy (MBT). Grounded in vivid clinical vignettes, the talk traces the evolution of psychoanalytic thinking from classical models to contemporary relational and mentalization-oriented perspectives. Distinctive eating-disorder-specific transference themes are explored, including fears of intrusion and engulfment, idealization–devaluation cycles, and the experience of therapeutic attention as monitoring, scrutin...Read morey, or persecution. Countertransference challenges are addressed in depth, with a focus on anxious vigilance, oscillations between rescue and withdrawal, and the therapist’s experience of helplessness or depletion. The presentation concludes with practical, MBT-informed strategies for understanding and working with these dynamics, emphasizing transference–countertransference patterns not merely as material for interpretation but as direct expressions of the patient’s internal world and as essential guides to intervention, attunement, and treatment planning. Less...

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Learning Objectives

  • Participants will be able to identify and differentiate common transference configurations in eating-disorder treatment and describe how these patterns are conceptualized within a mentalization-based framework.
  • Participants will be able to recognize and reflect upon characteristic countertransference responses in work with eating disorders, and articulate how MBT principles support the therapist in maintaining reflective functioning under pressure.
  • Participants will be able to apply mentalization-based techniques to use transference–countertransference dynamics as information about the patient’s internal world, thereby guiding more effective and attuned therapeutic interventions.

Learning Levels

  • Intermediate

Friday, December 05, 2025

Live Interactive Webinar

10:00 AM EST - 12:00 PM EST

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EARN 1.5 CE Credit Hours
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About the speaker

Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, CEDS-C

Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, CEDS-C

Psychoanalyst and Board-Certified Psychologist
Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C is Chair in the Department of Psychology at Golden Gate University as well as a psychoanalyst and board-certified, licensed psychologist. His books include, Understanding Anorexia Nervosa in Males, Psychoanalytic Treatment of Eating Disorders: When Words Fail and Bodies Speak (Relational Perspectives Book Series), Eating Disorders (New Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis), and the co-edited volume, Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation: Rehumanizing Mental Health Policy and Practice. He has also written a novel about the process of psychotherapy, Ghosts of the Unremembered Past, additionally released as an audiobook with Audible. His newest book, Parenting in Eating Disorder Recovery: Attunement, Reflection, and the Art of Staying Present, will be released by Guilford in 2026. He is a Personal and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute for Northern California and a Training Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. He is on the Faculty at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC), the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP), the William Alanson White Institute’s Eating Disorders, Compulsions, and Addictions program, and the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and has a private practice in Berkeley, CA and via tele-health in CA & NY.

Agenda

10:00 am to 12:00 pm

    Introductions from IAEDP NY Chapter President, Kelly Ahl

    Sponsor Welcome 

    CE Presentation 90 min

    Q & A 

CE Information - Earn 1.5 CE Credit Hours

Disclosure

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The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity’s planners, faculty, and the reviewer:


PLANNERS AND REVIEWER
The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

FACULTY
The faculty of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.