Psychotherapy

Clinical and Consultative Services at LPSC
At any one point in time between 75 and 100 licensed psychotherapists of various disciplines are enrolled in study courses at LPSC taught by Dr. Hedges and other experienced psychoanalytically oriented therapists. There are monthly reading and discussion groups around cutting-edge topics, weekly case conference seminars focused on difficult-to-treat cases, and individual and group tutorials and supervision. Call Jerry Arechiga for the most current information on openings in groups.

Dr. Hedges conducts conferences locally and throughout the United States at other psychotherapy centers on the topics of Listening Perspectives in Psychotherapy, Transference and Countertransference Dilemmas, Women's Consciousness Transformations, Borderline and Narcissistic Issues, Psychotic Transference and False Accusations and other related topics.

On-site psychotherapy services include long-term individual and group psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, and children.

Having practiced and taught in Southern California for more than 35 years, Dr. Hedges is an excellent resource for referrals for all kinds of mental health services.

Dr. Hedges' psychotherapy research led him as early as 1983 to begin considering the transference psychosis or organizing experience which appears in the psychotherapy transference. This earliest of transferences relates to the person's approach for connection with others and the subsequent rupture of or moving away from interpersonal connection due to primordial fear, usually thought to stem from infantile trauma and/or abuse. Frequently, therapists are accused of doing things or failing to do things that precipitated this primordial sense of injury in the transference. The result is angry accusations hurled at the therapist which can usually be worked through in the therapy relationship or with the aid of outside consultation or a third-party case monitor. However, occasionally one of these accusations cannot be handled within the confines of therapy and is transferred to a public arena as a false accusation against the therapist in civil court, administrative law court, or a professional ethics committee.

Dr. Hedges over the last decade has served as a consultant to many therapists and attorneys who are dealing in one way or another with false accusations. He has served as expert witness on deep transferences and countertransferences, false recovered memories, dual relationships, boundary issues, and standard of practice that have come to disrupt the therapy process and been converted into false accusations.

See the most recent versions of a series of peer-reviewed articles and presentations, "False Accusations: Genesis and Preventions" on this site. For an overview of practice issues and up to date preventative guidelines and forms see Facing the Challenge of Liability in Psychotherapy: Practicing Defensively, reviewed on this site.