Ales Zivkovic, MSc (TA Psych), PTSTA(P) will deliver a talk and clinical supervision at the national conference of the Slovenian Association for Transactional Analysis (SLOVENTA). The talk will address the topic of dependent personality and interpersonal dependency and will cover etiological, intrapsychic, and interpersonal characteristics of dependency, including its manifestations in the psychotherapeutic setting.

It will look at developmental origins of dependency, especially focusing on the aspect of a child’s developmental need gratification whereby the caregiver’s pathological needs take precedence over the child’s inherent authentic needs. Special focus will be on interconnectedness of developmental violations, including abuse, and the formation of dependent personality features.

It will also look at how developmental violations are re-enacted in individual’s adult relationships through formation of dependency as part of identity and how identity depends on such re-enacted violations. Some research findings on the topic will also be presented.

Transference and countertransference aspects of treating dependency in clinical setting will also be discussed, along with the nature of negative therapeutic reactions, therapeutic stalemates, patient’s resistance to treatment, and self-sabotage. This will also entail a look into how the psychotherapist’s unresolved dependency conflicts may influence the treatment process.

The event will take place online (over Zoom).