AEDP® Seminar August 7, 2026
Restructuring Syntonic Defenses
Presented by Steve Shapiro
Friday, August 7, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET
Live Online and Highly Interactive
CE Information listed below
Do you get confused by clients resisting the very help they came for?
Do you overvalue feelings and emotional catharsis even in “Phase I” when resistance is high?
Do you possess a coherent organizing map to help “clear the path” of inevitable resistance?
Course Description
Many therapists feel confused or discouraged when clients block connection or avoid emotional material. It is tempting to make assumptions and overly simplify the picture by applying labels like “treatment resistant,” “unmotivated,” or “personality disordered.” Under these conditions, it is easy to get polarized and unintentionally contribute to ruptures which weaken the alliance and reduce the safety necessary to conduct intensive psychotherapy.
This seminar offers a clear, compassionate framework for understanding and transforming syntonic defenses. Phase-specific thinking is essential: barriers must be addressed and the alliance solidified before approaching vulnerable material. For many challenging clients, emotional catharsis alone is insufficient — explicit, sequential defense work is necessary.
Teaching centers on clinical video covering: recognizing detrimental patterns; identifying core defensive strategies; and addressing barriers to therapeutic connection. By adopting an active, focused, experiential, attachment-based and emotionally engaged stance, therapists can create the safety and attunement necessary to help patients risk abandoning their resistance and shift to more satisfying functioning. While the ultimate goal is to accelerate the healing process for clients, a secondary aim is to help clinicians practice in a way that reduces countertransference, is deeply rewarding and effective, while remaining fully compatible with your authentic presence.
Integrative framing:
Drawing on Experiential Dynamic Therapy traditions — including AEDP, ISTDP, and APT — as well as Focusing, IFS, psychodynamic theory, and memory reconsolidation, the principles taught are readily integrated with any existing orientation.
METHODS: Lecture, PowerPoint Presentation, Video Presentation of case examples, Group Discussion, Bibliography, Handouts
Who should attend
This training is open to all levels, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Course Overview
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Distinguish among defenses, resistance, and anxiety in clinical presentations
- Construct a reliable clinical map to coherently guide defense restructuring interventions
- Apply phase-specific skills for clearing barriers prior to deepening affect work
- Explain how relating in a contingent manner strengthens the therapeutic alliance
- Demonstrate how compassionate, explicit defense work can deepen the therapeutic alliance
- Identify strategies to help clients relinquish outdated coping patterns
- Utilize a method of “highlighting and inviting” that balances client need for support and challenge
- Adopt a therapeutic stance that accelerates client transformation while reducing therapist burnout
The Challenge of Restructuring Syntonic Defenses: Presented by Steve Shapiro, PhD
August 7, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM EST
11:00 – 11:10 AM
Course Overview
11:10 – 11:15 AM
Video Demo: Defense transition: Syntonic to Dystonic
11:15 – 11:35 AM
I. Why is defense work so difficult (for the client)?
II. Why is defense work so difficult (for the therapist)?
III. Pain vs suffering
IV: Emotional physics
V: The alliance
11:35 AM – 12:00 PM
VI: Video Demo: Syntonic Defense Clarification / Mourning Cost of Ds, Part 1
12:00 – 12:15 PM
VII: Phase specific interventions (syntonic vs dystonic). Intrapsychic crisis.
12:15 – 12:40 PM
VIII: Video Demo: Syntonic Defense Clarification / Mourning Cost of Ds, Part 1
12:40 – 1:00 PM
IX: Exit ramps & barriers (Defense clarifications)
1:00 – 1:15 PM
Break
1:15 – 1:35 PM
X: Video Demo: Syntonic Defense Clarification / Alliance Building (Highlight & Invite) in
Resistant Adolescent; Intellectual Insight re Syntonic Ds, Part 1
1:35 – 1:50 PM
XI: Highlighting & Inviting
1:50 – 2:15 PM
XII: Video Demo: Syntonic Defense Clarification / Alliance Building (Highlight & Invite) in
Resistant Adolescent; Intellectual Insight re Syntonic Ds, Part 2
2:15 – 2:25 PM
XIII: Subsection: Defense against connection
2:25 – 2:55 PM
XIV: VIDEO DEMO: Resistance to Connection with Therapist
2:55 – 3:00 PM
Closing
This seminar is eligible for: 3.75 Continuing Education Hours
AEDP Works, LLC offers continuing education (CE) credits upon completion of the following requirements: (a) completion of administrative processing (processing fee applies except where prohibited by state regulations), (b) perfect attendance, and (c) submission of the online program evaluation.
Please note that it is the responsibility of the licensee to check with their individual state board to verify CE requirements for their state and reciprocal approvals.
Continuing education applications may be underway for various national and state-level boards and agencies. Please email admin@aedpinstitute.org with questions.
PSYCHOLOGISTS
New York
AEDP Works, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0256.
SOCIAL WORKERS:
New York LMSWs and LCSWs
AEDP Works, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0805.
PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS & MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELORS
Counselors except NY and MFTs in all states except NY and MA
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)
AEDP Works, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7622. AEDP Works, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Each session is being offered for 3.75 NBCC Credit Hours.
This program was developed for:
Licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals who are practicing under the supervision of a qualified, licensed clinician. Participants typically hold (or are actively working toward) one of the following credentials:
Graduate students enrolled in accredited mental health training programs practicing under a licensed Supervisor
Psychologists (PhD, PsyD, EdD)
Psychiatrists (MD, DO)
Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW, LICSW, MSW)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT)
Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC, LPCC, LCPC, etc.)
Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC)
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP, APRN)
Registered Psychotherapists (as recognized regionally)
Occupational Therapists with training in mental health
Licensed or registered art, music, or dance/movement therapists
Meet The Presenter: Steve Shapiro, PhD
Steve Shapiro is a clinical psychologist who maintains a full-time private practice in suburban Philadelphia and has over thirty years clinical and teaching experience. He has been practicing various forms of Experiential Dynamic Therapy (EDT), such as Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), since the mid-1990’s. He is a founding member of the AEDP Institute.
Dr. Shapiro conducts lectures, workshops and ongoing training internationally. His presentations are often commended for translating complex clinical theory into clear, precise, and practical techniques which are easily understandable and readily applied immediately in clinical settings by therapists of all orientations.
For 16 years, Dr. Shapiro was the Director of Psychology and Education at Montgomery County Emergency Service (MCES), an emergency psychiatric hospital, where he worked with a range of severe disorders and those committed involuntarily to treatment. This intensive experience has helped inform Dr. Shapiro’s specializations and approach to transforming resistance with those who are considered challenging due to a history of trauma, a high degree of resistance, or excessive anxiety and dysregulation.
Financial: Steve Shapiro has no financial relationships with ineligible organizations. He receives a speaking honorarium from AEDP Institute, AEDP Works, LLC.
Course Dates & Setting
Please check all dates and times closely for conflicts with local holidays, religious holidays, etc.
Please double check the meeting time in your local time zone by visiting here.
Dates
Friday, August 7, 2026
Times
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET
Setting
Click here for the AEDP Live, Online Learning Requirements & FAQ’s
Registration, Fees & Scholarships
Non-Member Registration
$149
Join as a Member and Save
Member Registration
$134
Early Bird Rate $119 USD
(Members Only) Available through May 8, 2026
Scholarships
Limited Scholarships available
Eligibility Requirements
Must be an Immersion Graduate
North America: Licensed mental health practitioners, as well as therapists practicing under the license of a supervising professional.
Important Note: Coaching licenses and other non-psychotherapy-specific licenses do not meet the eligibility requirements.
If you’re unsure about the relevance of this course for you, or your eligibility, please contact admin@aedpinstitute.org with your credentials before registering.
Attendance and Make up Policy
Institute Sponsored Courses Including Immersion, Essential Skills, Advanced Skill Modules, Seminars/Webinars and Institute Sponsored Core Trainings
The AEDP Institute does not offer make-ups for missed course days. In the rare case where someone joins a course late, or misses a session in the middle of a course, the hour(s) or day(s) that person misses cannot be made up. Why? Group dynamics developed during a course are essential to the course’s success; so someone coming into a course for a short period of time is – regardless of their best intentions – disruptive to other participants and the course’s overall success. The Institute will, however, provide handouts from missed hours or days but will not allow a person to make up the hours or days they miss in another course.
AEDP Level credit: if a participant attends 80% or more of a course, the Institute will apply the course towards AEDP Level advancement
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Canceling 16 or More Days Before a Course or Seminar:
- Refund: 85% of your course fee.
Canceling 1-15 Days Before a Course or Seminar:
- No Refund
- An Institute credit of 85% of your course fee will be provided for use towards a future course.
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- No credit
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- Requests will be accommodated wherever possible without financial penalty.
Transfer Requests Made 44-1 Days Before Course Start:
- $200 Transfer fee Applied to new course
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- Requests to transfer from one ES1 course series to another are highly disruptive and rarely possible.
- Exception: In rare and extreme circumstances where an exception is made, a $200 transfer fee will be charged
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If for any reason you are unsatisfied with an Institute sponsored (recorded) On Demand Seminar, please email admin@aedpinstitute.org with an explanation of why you are dissatisfied. We will offer, one time per person, a credit for your payment, less a 15% banking and administrative fee that you may apply to a different (recorded) On Demand seminar.
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