DOES IPI’S AFFECTIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING HELP US CONNECT MORE VITALLY WITH OUR PATIENTS?
Group experience in the Affective Learning Model provides a secure place in which participants can metabolize their affective responses to object relations concepts, some of which can be emotionally disturbing. The group provides a contained practice arena where peers can work together – experiencing their affective resonance with the material, making it conscious, and working it through. This means that the concepts that are presented are understood not only intellectually, but are taken in to the deeper reaches of the self, worked with among peers, and internalized. The entire process gives therapists confidence in using their own self-experience (i.e., their emotional or countertransferential responses) with their patients or clients. The therapist is then able to engage the patient or client safely and productively in an authentic experience, and possesses the skills to process and review that experience. The Affective Learning Model thus builds clinical skill in emotional attuneme
