Two-Year Foundational Training in Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) – Japan 2026

Description

The Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) Therapist Training – Japan is a comprehensive, longitudinal professional training program designed to prepare licensed mental health clinicians to assess and treat patients with borderline and other personality disorders using the TFP model.
TFP is a manualized, evidence-based psychodynamic psychotherapy developed by Otto Kernberg and colleagues at the Personality Disorders Institute (Weill Cornell Medical College). The treatment targets pathological personality organization—particularly identity diffusion, primitive defenses, disturbed object relations, and affect dysregulation—through systematic analysis of the transference relationship in the here-and-now of the patient-therapist relationship.

This Japan foundational training is delivered through Online seminars and two in-person intensive trainings in Japan, following the official TFP Curriculum.

The program emphasizes:

• structural diagnosis and assessment
• treatment contracting and frame maintenance
• management of suicidality and acting out
• systematic transference analysis
• efficient use of countertransference
• aims to achieve structural change rather than symptom-focused intervention

The curriculum is sequenced to move from general presentation of the treatment and outcome research, theory of personality functioning and diagnosis, to advanced clinical technique, management of typical complications and treatment termination. Throughout the program, participants learn to apply TFP principles ethically, safely, and effectively, with sensitivity to Japanese clinical culture and professional practice standards.

Successful completion of the whole program indicates that participants have acquired the theoretical knowledge necessary to advance to the second stage leading to TFP Therapist certification: TFP group supervision.

OVERALL LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

Critically evaluate the empirical evidence for TFP, including randomized controlled trials, outcome studies, and research on attachment and reflective functioning.

Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of personality structure and personality pathology stemming from Dr. Otto Kernberg’s object relation theory with particular emphasis on borderline level personality organization.

Explain the theoretical foundations of TFP, including object relations theory, affect theory, aggression, identity formation, and developmental models of psychopathology.

Conduct a structural diagnostic assessment, integrating:

• DSM-5 syndromal diagnosis
• structural diagnosis (identity, defenses, reality testing, object relations, moral functioning)
• transference patterns
• biographical and psychodynamic formulation

Perform and interpret the Structural Interview

Establish and maintain a TFP treatment contract, including clear management of:

• suicidality and self-harm
• threats to treatment continuity
• secondary gain and acting out

Maintain the therapeutic frame and technical neutrality, understanding when and how to deviate from neutrality for safety or treatment preservation, and how to reinstate it.

Identify and articulate dominant internal object relations dyads as they emerge in the transference relationship.

Apply TFP strategies, tactics, and techniques, including:

Use countertransference as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool, distinguishing concordant and complementary identifications while avoiding enactment.

Work effectively with intense affect, splitting, projective identification, and role reversals, characteristic of borderline and severe personality pathology.

Recognize and manage common treatment complications, including:

• suicidal crises
• paranoid regression
• dissociation
• eroticized and negative transference
• threats of dropout

Facilitate structural change, evidenced by:

• increased identity integration
• decreased reliance on splitting-based defenses
• improved affect regulation
• enhanced reflective functioning
• more stable object relations

Assess clinical progress and outcome, integrating subjective change, behavioral stability, and structural indicators rather than symptom reduction alone.

Conduct and manage termination, including working through separation, mourning, and consolidation of gains.

Promotional webpage

Modalities

The program consists of 40 hours of online seminars and 24 hours of in-person intensive training, conducted from May 2026 to April 2028.

Online seminars: Held once monthly on Saturdays, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. (Japan Standard Time)
In-person training: November 21-22, 2026 and April 15-16 2028

Session dates:

May 16, 2026 (2h)
Foundations I – Personality & Borderline Pathology
• Educational objectives of TFP
• Concept of personality (temperament, character, identity, moral values, intelligence)
• Structural features of personality
• Descriptive features of personality disorders
• Epidemiology and public health relevance of BPD
• Comorbidity and clinical implications
Learning Objective:
Develop a structural understanding of personality and borderline pathology.

June 27, 2026 (2h)
Foundations II – Etiology & Development
• Etiology of BPD (genetics, temperament, trauma, attachment)
• Neurobiology and splitting
• Developmental phases (Mahler, Kernberg)
• Object relations theory
• Internalized self–object–affect dyads
Learning Objective:
Understand identity diffusion from developmental and object-relational perspectives.

July 25, 2026 (2h)
Structural Diagnosis & Personality Organization
• Structural diagnosis framework
• Identity, defenses, reality testing
• Levels of personality organization
• Borderline Personality Organization (BPO)
• DSM-5 Section III comparison
Learning Objective:
Differentiate descriptive and structural diagnosis.

August 22, 2026 (2h)
The Structural Interview
• Principles of structural interviewing
• Three opening questions
• Three communication channels (verbal, nonverbal, countertransference)
• Clarification, confrontation, trial interpretation
• Empathy and technical neutrality
• STIPO overview
Learning Objective:
Apply structural interview techniques in clinical assessment.

September 26, 2026 (2h)
Transference & Countertransference
• Definitions and evolution of concepts
• Projective identification
• Borderline transference characteristics
• Complementary vs concordant identification
• Countertransference as third channel
Learning Objective:
Recognize and utilize enacted object relations in treatment.

October 24, 2026 (2h)
What is TFP?
• Manualized, evidence-based psychodynamic treatment
• Differences from traditional psychodynamic therapy
• Resolution of identity diffusion
• Treatment phases
• Manualization principles
Learning Objective:
Understand the rationale and structure of TFP.

November 21–22, 2026 (12h)
Intensive Training I (Japan) – Contract & Early Phase
Day 1
• Treatment contract: structure and functions
• Patient and therapist responsibilities
• Suicidality management scenarios
• Managing acting out
Day 2
• Maintaining the treatment frame
• Hierarchy of thematic priorities
• Moving from acting out to transference
• Early transference analysis
• Clinical role plays and case discussions
Learning Objective:
Achieve competence in safely managing severe borderline pathology.

YEAR 2 – TECHNIQUE, INTEGRATION & ADVANCED APPLICATION (2027–2028)

January 23, 2027 (2h)
TFP Strategies
• Defining dominant object relations
• Role reversals
• Interpreting splitting
• Strategy–tactic–technique model

February 20, 2027 (2h)
Tactics
• Maintaining the frame
• Selecting focus
• Following affect
• Regulating intensity

March 27, 2027 (2h)
Techniques I – Clarification & Confrontation
• Clarification process
• Confronting contradictions
• Enhancing mentalization
• Experience-near interventions

April 24, 2027 (2h)
Techniques II – Interpretation
• Steps of interpretation
• Therapist-centered interpretations
• Surface-to-depth principle
• Addressing oscillations and projections

May 29, 2027 (2h)
Technical Neutrality
• Definition and functions
• Deviations from neutrality
• Reinstating neutrality
• Observing ego

June 26, 2027 (2h)
Countertransference in Depth
• Acute vs chronic countertransference
• Metabolizing projections
• Avoiding enactments
• Use of supervision

July 24, 2027 (2h)
Treatment Complications
• Suicide and self-harm
• Substance use, eating disorders
• Erotic and eroticized transference
• Dissociation and micro-psychosis
• Hospitalization decisions

August 28, 2027 (2h)
Midphase Treatment
• Looping process
• Interpretation of defensive splits
• Attachment themes
• Life restructuring

September 25, 2027 (2h)
Structural Change
• Indicators of integration
• Reflective function
• Attachment transformation
• From splitting to repression

October 23, 2027 (2h)
Research & Evidence
• Uncontrolled studies
• Randomized controlled trials
• Structural improvement findings
• Comparative strengths of TFP

November 27, 2027 (2h)
Applications Beyond BPD
• High vs low borderline level
• Narcissistic pathology
• Inpatient adaptations
• Medical and psychiatric settings

FINAL YEAR MODULES (2028)

January 22, 2028 (2h)
Termination I
• Separation dynamics
• Paranoid vs depressive reactions
• Internalization of therapist
• Mourning processes

February 19, 2028 (2h)
Termination II
• Clinical examples
• Signs of identity consolidation
• Managing regression before ending

March 25, 2028 (2h)
Advanced Case Formulation
• DSM diagnosis
• Structural diagnosis
• Transference diagnosis
• Biographical integration
• Case presentation model

April 1–2, 2028 (12h)
Intensive Training II (Japan) – Advanced Integration
Day 1
• Advanced transference interpretation cycles
• Managing complex enactments
• Neutrality under pressure
• Supervision model
Day 2
• Evaluating structural change
• Complex suicidality cases
• Therapist blind spots
• Peer supervision practice
• Final integrative discussion
Learning Objective:
Consolidate advanced competence in TFP application.

Fee:

Program Fee: The total cost of the program is 2,600 USD (approximately JPY ¥200,000 per year), payable either in full or in two annual installments of 1,300 USD each.

Faculty

Veronica Steiner
Mathieu Norton-Poulin

Contact

Junichi Torigoe: [email protected]

Registration

For additional information regarding registration, please contact: [email protected]

To register, please follow the link below:

REGISTRATION