5th World Conference of Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP)

The 5th Congress of the International Society of Transference Focused Psychotherapy (ISTFP) was in the Catalan capital, from September 30 to October 2, where attended more than 300 experts from around the world interested in the new discoveries related to Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP). This type of psychotherapy is psychoanalytically oriented, developed by Professor Otto Kernberg that is based on the theory of object relationships. Its fundamental objective is a greater integration of the patient’s identity and a significant improvement of the functionalities in the different areas of life, both affective-relational and social life and work.

In addition to the successful participation, with professionals from 24 different countries and the 5 continents, we have to outstand the quality of the different papers presented, as well as the excellent organization of the conference carried out by the Local Organizing Committee formed by professionals of the Grup-TLP Barcelona and chaired by Dr. Joan Vegué (Vice-president of the Grup-TLP Barcelona).

Apart from the participation in the different committees of the ISTFP (training, research, psychiatric services, adolescence, public relations and ethics) it is worth mentioning the great reception of the two pre-conference training workshops organized by the Grup-TLP: Introduction to the TFP (Dr. Joan Vegué and Dr. Luis Valenciano) and Introduction to TFP Adolescents (Teresa Ribalta, Alfons Icart and Brenda Tarragona).

Regarding the presentations in the conference itself, Mr. Alfons Icart (president of the Grup-TLP Barcelona) moderated the presentation Transference patterns in Personality Disorders by Professor Kernberg (founder of the TFP).

Dr. Joan Vegué, in addition to participating in the inauguration and in the closure of the conference, was, on Monday morning, the moderator of the simultaneous symposium with the theme: TFP in the different psychiatric services and, Tuesday morning, the moderator of the plenary session Extending the Límits of TFP by Eve Galigor of NY.

Mrs. Mª Jesús Rufat presented a paper of the application of the TFP in psychotherapeutic groups at the simultaneous symposium on Monday morning dedicated to group psychotherapy. In the afternoon session on the same Monday, she also participated with the presentation of the preliminary results of the STIPO-R Scale.

Ms. Teresa Ribalta presented the paper of the TFP Institute at the symposium of the implementation of the TFP curriculum in different countries, and Dr. Eulàlia Ripoll presented the paper of the functioning of the therapeutic groups and the application of the TFP in the Clínica Llúria.

It is worth highlighting the great interest aroused by these different works, emphasizing the innovative aspects of TFP in the different therapeutic settings.

Due to the celebration of this conference, Cadena Ser (catalan radio channel) collects an interview with Professor Otto Kernberg (founder of the TFP) and Dr. Joan Vegué (Medical Director of CPB Mental Health Services and vicepresident of the Grup-TLP Barcelona).

You can listen to it at the following link (minute 7:40):
http://play.cadenaser.com/audio/370RD010000001396609/