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The Conversational Model

More about The Conversational Model

TITLE	SPEAKER	DIFFICULTY
Defining the Conversational Model
Defining The Conversational Model	Russell Meares
Evolution of The Conversational Model	Russell Meares

Therapeutic applications of The Conversational Model
TITLE	SPEAKER	DIFFICULTY
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the Conversational Model - OCD.	Russell Meares
Managing Borderline Personality Disorder in General Practice	Chris Willcox
Attachment and the Conversational Model	Joan Haliburn

The Practice of The Conversational Model
TITLE	SPEAKER	DIFFICULTY
Transforming Inner into Outer: Or how a therapist goes about choosing what to reveal about his Inner Conversation.	George Lianos
Diary as a Transitional Object	Janine Stevenson

The Conversational Model

The premise of the Conversational Model is that the form of the conversation between the therapist and patient reflects and manifests not only an individual consciousness but also a form of relatedness. Therapy develops as an interplay between two people that is oriented to mobilizing fundamental modes of development in the patient through empathic availability and responsiveness. This form of relatedness has the potential to transform trauma and allow the growth of self. These are the central tasks of therapy, requiring a safe environment where the play of personal reality and imagination are encouraged to emerge.

Developed by Robert Hobson and Russell Meares from the 1970's on, the Conversational Model therapeutic approach has matured and taken on its contemporary form through the work of Meares and colleagues in Western Sydney and the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapy (ANZAP) . Outcomes in therapy employing this model have been subject to research, particularly with Borderline Personality Disorder. It is amongst the best-validated contemporary psychodynamic therapies. Historically it draws upon the work of William James, Hughlings Jackson, Pierre Janet, Carl Jung and many others including Donald Winnicott and Heinz Kohut. The Conversational Model continues to evolve and is influenced by the findings of developmental and neuroscientific research as well as other contemporary schools of psychotherapy.