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2025 New Perspectives on Treatment Series: The Art of Holding in the Therapeutic Space

The Art of Holding: Balancing Care and Autonomy in Psychiatry

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Information

Date & Time

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Explain how the medical establishment can provide holding.

  • Describe how medication can help people metabolize holding.

  • Identify at least two ways in which the medical establishment at large provides (or fails to provide) holding.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this workshop is to enhance understanding of the art of holding.

Description

“Holding” was first described by Winnicott, a British physician, in the 1940s and 1950s. And to this day, physicians use their training and skills to provide a holding environment for their clients. A thoughtful diagnosis can validate a client’s experience and offer a framework for understanding distress. Careful prescribing can help people manage distress, allowing people to improve their self-regulation and better engage with the world. On some level, psychiatrists have more ways to construct a holding environment than anyone.

And yet, we don’t always get it right. We’ll discuss how psychiatry and the medical establishment can hold too tightly in some cases, trapping people in stigmatizing diagnoses and complicated medication regimens. In some cases, revising a diagnosis, or de-prescribing can be acts of holding, too. We’ll also discuss the ways the medical establishment has allowed people to fall, uncaught, through cracks in the system. In this session, we’ll do our best to walk the line between holding too tightly and letting go.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Dr. Kristin Budde began as a lover of stories. She studied English literature at the University of Michigan, then earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, ultimately graduating with honors and also earning a Master of Public Health. She completed her psychiatry residency at Yale University, where she served as chief resident for diversity, received excellent training in psychotherapy, pharmacology and neuromodulatory therapies, and also began to appreciate the importance of the stories we tell ourselves, and the power these narratives have to shape our outlook and life.

Dr. Budde has mentored and taught medical trainees at all levels, and served on the teaching faculties of Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of Washington in both inpatient and emergency-department settings. She remains passionate about teaching and public engagement, even as she continues to write, consult, lecture and occasionally participate in storytelling events. She also maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and pharmacology, for which she takes a holistic approach to well-being that includes diet, exercise, social connection and even a bit of storytelling. Her steadfast goal is for clients to receive superb care in an environment in which they feel understood and supported, and to help them find moments of joy and humor along the way.

Financially Sponsored By

  • Ellenhorn