Understanding Client Resistance as Pathological Ambivalence - 5 CEUs

To access the discount form for registering for multiple workshops or participants, please click here.

When and Where:

• Date: Friday, April 4, 2025
  • If you cannot attend this workshop on 4/4, you can register for the on-demand version here: https://www.theknowledgetree.org/p/pathological-am...
• Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm Eastern Time
• CE Hours Included: 5 Core (please see below for details)
• Location: Live Interactive Webinar (“Synchronous”) on Zoom
• Investment: $120 before Friday, March 21st at 5:00pm Eastern Time, $135 after
  • To pay with PayPal, ACH transfer, or CashApp, please email us at [email protected] or call us at 404-913-2005. Otherwise, click below on "Save Your Spot Now!"
• Presented by: Linda Buchanan, Ph.D. (see bio below)
• Workshop Recording: A recording of this workshop is available to review for 60 days after the presentation. However, participants must attend live to receive the "Synchronous" CE Certificate.
• Instruction Level: Intermediate
• Target Audience: Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Other Mental Health Professionals

Educational Objectives:

In this workshop, you will learn how to:

• Classify resistance as Pathological Ambivalence (PA).
• Analyze why some individuals are more prone to developing PA than others.
• Identify common expressions of PA.
• Utilize strategies for sidestepping power struggles to empower clients to resolve ambivalence from within.
• Identify narratives and their projections while avoiding participating in the schemas or being the object of the projections.

Workshop Description:

Resistant, Oppositional, Borderline, Unmotivated. We often use such terms to describe patients who, despite expressing a desire to change, repeatedly reject our help. Therapists have all encountered clients that pay money for help and then resist the help offered often leading to labeling the client or causing the therapist to feel inadequate. Also it can be very difficult to know how to avoid getting into power struggles with our clients when they are not progressing as expected. This presentation, based on Dr. Buchanan’s Book, A Clinician’s Guide to Pathological Ambivalence: How to Be on Your Client’s Side Without Taking a Side, offers an alternative interpretation of patients’ apparent resistance, termed pathological ambivalence, which is rooted in early experience, biological functioning, and psychological narrative. These factors result in the development of strong but conflicting needs (such as wanting connection and fearing rejection) that can slow down, confuse or even halt the therapeutic process. The natural tendencies of therapists to take the side for growth can lead to many kinds of therapeutic obstacles. The therapist will be most effective when utilizing skills that promote a sense of being on the client’s side without taking any side. This workshop, will offer a framework to utilize specific strategies from a wide variety of evidence based treatments that enable the patient to resolve the ambivalence thus minimizing the likelihood that the therapy and/or therapist will become the target of the ambivalence. Case examples and experiential learning will also be utilized to educate the participants to sidestep power struggles, projections and splitting and to empower clients to resolve ambivalence from within.

Presented by: Linda Buchanan, Ph.D.

Dr. Linda Buchanan is a psychologist who has been working in the mental health field for over 30 years. She received her master’s degree from Georgia State University and a Diploma from the Psychological Studies Institute (now known as Richmont University) in Christian Counseling from which she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award for her work in founding ACE. Dr. Buchanan then went on to receive her Ph.D. from Georgia State University with a specialty in family therapy. Dr. Buchanan founded Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders in 1993 which was acquired by Walden Behavioral Care in 2017. She now primarily focuses on consulting and writing. Her book A Clinician’s Guide to Pathological Ambivalence was published in 2019, the content of which she has presented at national and international conferences. She has also self-published three workbooks (one serves as a client companion to the Clinician’s Guide) which can be found on her website at www.lindapaulkbuchanan.com. Additionally, she has published four research articles on the treatment of eating disorders including two outcome studies of the treatment provided at Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders and two book chapters. Dr. Buchanan serves as a peer reviewer of American Psychological Association (APA) Journals and writes a blog called From One Therapist to Another, writing about experience gained in 35 years of clinical practice. She has been married for over 30 years and is the mother of two adopted sons.

Workshop Schedule (Eastern Time):

• 10:30am - 11:00am | Sign-In and Welcome
• 11:00am - 12:30pm | Session
• 12:30pm - 12:40pm | Break
• 12:40pm - 1:55pm | Session
• 1:55pm - 2:35pm | Lunch Break
• 2:35pm - 3:35pm | Session
• 3:35pm - 3:45pm | Break
• 3:45pm - 5:00pm | Session
• 5:00pm | Continuing Education Certificates Available

5 Core CE Hours Included - Details by License Type Below:

• PSYCHOLOGISTS: The Knowledge Tree is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Knowledge Tree maintains responsibility for this program and its content. For more detailed information on the current CE ruling in Georgia, or if you are licensed in another state or country, please click here.
• COUNSELORS: The Knowledge Tree has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP), ACEP No. 7153. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Knowledge Tree is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Please click here for more detailed information.
• SOCIAL WORKERS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Society for Clinical Social Work (GSCSW). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.
• MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPISTS: TKT has applied for approval for this workshop through the Georgia Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (GAMFT). If you are licensed in another state or country, please click here for more detailed information.

To view our various workshop policies, including our multi-workshop discount & refund policy, please click here.

We are an approved vendor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for easy reimbursement of educational expenses for VA employees.

Neither the Knowledge Tree nor its speakers have received any commercial support for this program or its contents and will not receive any commercial support prior to or during this program.