Betty Cannon, Ph.D.
Boulder Psychotherapy Institute1140 Lehigh St
Boulder, CO 80305
phone: 303 249 8840
website: www.boulderpsych.com
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Betty Cannon, Ph.D., is the president of the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute. BPI trains therapists in Applied Existential Psychotherapy (AEP). AEP interlaces the insights of contemporary existential and psychodynamic approaches with techniques inspired by Gestalt and other experiential therapies. Betty is its founder. She holds doctorates in both literature and psychology. She is Professor Emerita at the Colorado School of Mines and Adjunct Professor at Naropa Univesity and Regis University. She is the author of many articles and book chapters on existential therapy. Her book, Sartre and Psychoanalysis, is considered a classic in existential psychology. She has worked with individuals, couples, and groups in Boulder for over 30 years and trained therapists for over 20 years. Her long experience in the field has not diminished her passion for her work. She feels privileged to have shared so deeply with so many people over the years. Her life has been enriched by the courageous work of her clients and students.
BPI Student Information
AEP Approach to Body, Character Strategy and Trauma
- 1. Introduction to AEP Body Therapy (5/17/13)
- 2. The Body in Existential Therapy - Commonalities (6/14/13)
- 3. AEP Body Therapy-Aims & Interventions (7/19/13)
- 4. AEP Body-Oriented Interventions (8/16/13)
- 5-7. Character Strategy: An AEP Approach (10/11, 11/22/13, & 12/13/13)
- 8-10: AEP Trauma Work: Feb, March, April
- 11: AEP Trauma Work: Physiology, Techniques, Larger Context: May 16 & June 13
- Body Oriented Psychotherapy
- Bioenergetic Types
- Heidegger and Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis: My Personal, Psychoanalytic, and Philosophical Sojourn By Robert Stolorow
- Nothingness as the Ground for Change: Gestalt Therapy and Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Bill Moats' Reponse to Betty Cannon
AEP Module I: Individual Therapy (April-Nov 2016) with Robyn Chauvin, M.A., L.P.C.
Applied Existential Psychotherapy (AEP) is an experiential psychodynamic therapy that interlaces the insights of contemporary existential and psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approaches with techniques inspired by Gestalt therapy and other experiential approaches. Each session includes a combination of didactic principles and experiential work and practice. The PDFs listed below include a list of suggested readings, class slides, and handouts and articles that you may want to read. The class normally meets twice a month on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 to 5:15 for a total of 60 hours. (First 15 minutes is social time.)
- Class Slides: AEP Individual Training
- AEP Roots and Influences
- Slides: Existential Coaching Presentation
- Phenomenology & Intentionality: Nothingness as the Source of Our Freedom
- Psychotherapy & Play: Intervening in the 'Spirit of Play'
- Reflective & Prereflective Consciousness, Bodily Lived Experience, & Body Interventions
- Verbal Expression & the 'Language of Responsibility': Moving from Objectification to 'De-Solidifiction'
- The 'Look' of the Original Others as the Source of Developmental Issues
- The 'Look', Formation of the Ego, & Defenses as Boundary Disturbances
- Class Slides: AEP: Roots & Influences
- Class Slides; Confronting Nothingness, Changing Direction
- Class Slides: AEP: Direction of Therapy, Play, & Existential Anxiety
- Class Slides: Spirit of Play - Practice of Therapy - Polarities
- Class Slides: Intervening in the Spirit of Play
- Class Slides: Shape of An AEP Session
- Class Slides: Defenses as Boundary Disturbances
- Class Slides: Transference, Countertransference, & Authentic Relationship
- Class Slides: AEP Dream Work
- Fundamental Principles of AEP
- Cycle of Awareness
- The Body & Human Existence
- The Language of Responsibility
- Polarities & the Division between Reflective and Prereflective Consciousness
- Typical Stages of an AEP Working
- Defenses as 'Boundary Disturbances'
- AEP Approach to Transference & Countertransference
- AEP Work with Dreams
- The Body, Emotion, and Meaning: AEP Trauma Work
- Existential Issues & Radical Change
- Applied Existential Psychotherapy: An Experiential Psychodynamic Approach by Betty Cannon
- Nothingness as the Ground for Change by Betty Cannon
- Bill Moats' Response
- Psychoanalysis and Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Hazel E. Barnes 1915-2008: A Farewell to America's Foremost Sartre Scholar by Betty Cannon
- Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- My Psychoanalytic Journey by Stephen Mitchell
- The Contextuality and Existentiality of Emotional Trauma by Robert Stolorow
- A Little History by Ron Kurtz
- Truth, Human Relatedness, and the Analytic Process: an Interpersonal/relational Perspective by Philip Bromberg
- The Role of the Ego in Reciprocity by Hazel E. Barnes
- Sartre's Concept of the Self by Hazel E. Barnes
AEP Module II: AEP Relational Training (Friday Afternoon & Saturday Afternoon Sections)
Research shows that couples and relationship counseling is the least effective form of therapy. We offer an approach, based in a profound philosophy, that avoids the pitfalls of other therapies. Applied Existential Psychotherapy supports and elaborates the conclusion that John Gottman came to through longitudinal research with couples: Facilitation and support for individual and mutual meaning-creation is (or ought to be) at the heart of relational therapy. Using Jean-Paul Sartre's existential phenomenology, we teach you to invite clients to explore the twin poles of human existence: freedom and facticity (the circumstances of our lives) as these impact our relationships and ourselves. If we deny or overemphasize one or the other pole we may fall into 'bad faith' or inauthentic relating. If we try to suppress or control our own or our partner's freedom, we may end up with security at the expense of aliveness, spontaneity and desire. But if we overemphasize freedom, we may find it difficult to commit ourselves to a relationship or we may fail to develop care for our partner's needs and desires. Many couples approaches overemphasize either togetherness or differentiation. Applied Existential Psychotherapy takes both into account as the avenue to creating a more spontaneous, fulfilling, and intimate relationship style in which partners come to support each other's deepest desires and to create shared meaning in their relationship. You will learn to work with perennial relational issues in the context of an overarching philosophical framework. This larger framework is critical to therapy. It provides structure, meaning, and direction to all the techniques, methods, or interventions that the therapist may have at his or her disposal. Since existential phenomenology insists that all experience is bodily-lived experience, you will learn body-oriented as well as verbal interventions. You will also learn to explore family of origin issues as they impact current difficulties and collisions over relational meaning. Class has two sections: Saturday Afternoons, noon to 6:15, Mar - Aug (no meetings in May) & Friday Afternoons, 4 to 8:15, June 2015- Mar 2016 (no meetings in Sept orJan)
- CLASS MEETING DATES FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY SECTIONS
- SLIDES FOR SATURDAY CLASS
- Gottman from an AEP Perspective 3/14
- Moving from I-It to I-Thou: The Aim & the Means of AEP Relational Therapy 3/28
- Psychotherapy & Philosophy: What Is AEP? 4/11, 4/25
- Psychotherapy & Philosophy: Existential Phenomenology or Scientific Positivism? 5/6, 5/20
- Psychotherapy & Philosophy: Nothingness, Change, & Play 6/6 & 6/20
- The 'Look', 'Bad Faith', and Movement toward Authentic Love 7/11 & 7/25
- Bad Faith & the Death of Desire - Authenticity and Passion 8/8
- Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Lifestyle
- SLIDES FOR FRIDAY CLASS
- Gottman from An AEP Perspective 6/5
- What Is AEP? - 6/19 & 7/10
- Moving From I-It to I-Thou: The Aim & the Means of AEP Relational Therapy 7/24 & 8/7
- Existential Phenomenology or Scientific Positivism? 8/21
- Nothingness, Change and Play 10/9
- The Look, Developmental Issues, Bad Faith, Defense Formation, Transference & Countertransference 11/6, 11/20, 12/4, 12/11
- Is Authentic Love Possible? - 2/12
- Bad Faith & the Death of Desire - Authenticity & Passion 2/26
- Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Lifestyle 3/11
- Trans Inclusivity for Counselors - Karolina Walsh
- READINGS FOR RELATIONAL CLASS
- The Challenge of Being Yourself While Being Part of a Couple: Bad Faith and the Couple's Dilemma by Betty Cannon & Reed Lindberg
- In the Spirit of Play: Applied Existential Psychotherapy by Betty Cannon & Reed Lindberg
- Applied Existential Psychotherapy: An Experiential Psychodynamic Approach by Betty Cannon
- Nothingness as the Ground for Change: Gestalt Therapy & Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Bill Moats' Reponse to Betty Cannon
- Psychoanalysis and Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Praxis, Need and Desire in Sartre's Later Philosophy by Betty Cannon
- The Role of the Ego in Reciprocity by Hazel E. Barnes
- Consciousness and Digestion: Sartre and Neuroscience by Hazel E. Barnes
- Hazel E. Barnes 1915-2008: A Farewell to America's Foremost Sartre Scholar - Betty Cannon
- The Look, Bad Faith, and Movement Toward Authentic Love
AEP Module III: Group Therapy Training (Apr-Sept 2014)
This training meets twice a month on Saturday afternoons, noon to 6:15, from April through September of 2014 (No meeting in July). It focuses on learning to facilitate the small ongoing in-depth therapy group. Sessions include didactic material, videotapes, demonstration groups, practice and process.
- Types of Groups, Group Task, Beginning Exercises, Preparing to Integrate New Members (Sept 28)
- Tentative Schedule of Topics: AEP Group Training
- Suggested Readings: Group Therapy Training
- Schedule for Co-Leading Group
- "Group Therapy as Revolutionary Praxis" by Betty Cannon
- "Sartre's Later Philosophy and the Sociomaterial World" In Sartre & Psychoanalysis by B. Cannon
- Classes 1-2 Slides : Group Models and Stages (April 12 & 19)
- Class 3 Slides: AEP Group Theory (May 10)
- Classes 4, 5 & 6: Levels of Intervention in Groups (May 24, June 7, & June 21)
- Class 6: Co-Leading (June 21)
- Class 7: Transference in Groups (Aug. 16)
- Class 9: Countertransference in Groups (Sept. 20)
- Class 10: Group Maintenance (Oct. 2)
- Four Models of Group Therapy
- Beginning Group Exercises
- "Rules" for Group Interaction
- Stages of Group Development
- Levels of Intervention
- Co-Leading Groups
- Group Maintenance
- Multicultural Issues in Groups
- Transference - Groups
- Transference, Resistance and Immediacy in Groups
- Defenses as Boundary Disturbances
- Countertransference - Groups
- Group Dream Work
AEP Theory: Roots, Philosophy and Clinical Theory
This training meets once a month on Sunday afternoons, 4 to 8:15, November to October (no class in January or July). Applied Existential Psychotherapy (AEP) interlaces the insights of contemporary existential and psychodynamic approaches with techniques inspired by Gestalt and other experiential therapies. Explore the theoretical background of AEP with its founder, Betty Cannon. Sources will include Bettys book on Sartre and Psychoanalysis along with many articles and book chapters on existential philosophy, psychoanalysis and Gestalt. New material will include chapters in progress from the book Betty is writing with Reed Lindberg on AEP. Videotapes and experiential exercises will demonstrate didactic material.
- AEP Theory: Syllabus
- AEP Theory: Roots, History, Influences
- Sartre: Phenomenology, Ontology and Existentialism
- Nothingness, Being, and Transphenomenality
- Ego, Gender Identity, and Freedom
- Ego and Human Development
- Playing and Psychotherapy
- Open Chair Experiments - AEP Work with Trauma
- Applied Existential Psychotherapy: An Experiential Psychodynamic Approach by Betty Cannon, Ph.D.
- Nothingness at the Heart of Being: Existential Psychoanalysis and Gestalt Therapy by Betty Cannon
- Nothingness as the Ground for Change by Betty Cannon
- Bill Moats' Response to Betty Cannon (See Nothingness as the Ground for Change) by William A. Moats
- Sartre's Concept of the Self from Chapter 4 Sartre and Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Sartre on the possibility of a "healthy" ego: From Chapter Six, Sartre and Psychoanalysis, by Betty Cannon
- Hazel E. Barnes 1915-2008: A Farewell to America's Foremost Sartre Scholar by Betty Cannon
- Gender Construct and Freedom by Robyn Chauvin (password required)
- Sartre's Concept of the Self by Hazel E. Barnes
- The Role of the Ego in Reciprocity by Hazel E. Barnes
- The Contextuality and Existentiality of Emotional Trauma by Robert Stolorow
- Being Yourself While Being with Another: Bad Faith an the Couples' Dilemma by Betty Cannon and Reed Lindberg (password required)
Applied Existential Psychotherapy (AEP) - Gestalt and Beyond - Individual, Couples and Group Training with Betty Cannon, Ph.D.
AEP is an experiential psychodynamic therapy that interlaces the insights of contemporary existential and psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approaches with techniques inspired by Gestalt therapy and other experiential approaches. Each session includes a combination of didactic principles and experiential work and practice. The PDFs listed below include a tentative schedule of topics to be covered - with handouts for class and articles you may want to read. This class includes sections on AEP individual, couples and group therapy for a total of 76 hours. The workshop meets three times on Friday afternoons from 4 to 8:15 in November and December of 2010. First 15 minutes is gathering and social time. We meet three times a month on Friday afternoons from February through June of 2011. There are no meetings in January. Meeting Dates: Nov 19; Dec 3, 17; Feb 4, 11, 18, Mar 4, 11, 18, Apr 8, 15, 22; May 6, 13, 20; June 10, 17, 24 (We will schedule an extra session to make up for the missed session on Nov 5.).
- Revised Schedule of Topics for AEP/Gestalt 2010-11
- Video Schedule - Including Group & Couples
- Suggested Readings for AEP/Gestalt
- Overview of AEP
- The Language of Responsibility
- Fundamentals of AEP
- Cycle of Awareness
- Polarities & the Division Between Reflective and Prereflective Consciousness
- Typical Stages of an AEP Working
- Defenses as Boundary Disturbances
- Transference and Countertransference in an AEP Setting
- AEP Dream Work
- Existential Issues
- Four Models of Group Therapy
- Beginning Group Exercises
- Stages of Group Development
- Levels of Intervention in Groups
- Transference in Groups
- Transference, Resistance and Immediacy in Groups
- Group Dream Work
- Some Group Exercises - Not to be Overused
- AEP Couples Therapy
- The Body and Human Existence
- Character Structure: Types
- Trauma Work
- Applied Existential Psychotherapy: An Experiential Psychodynamic Approach by Betty Cannon, Ph.D.
- Nothingness at the Heart of Being: Gestalt Therapy and Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Nothingness as the Ground for Change: Gestalt Therapy and Existential Psychoanalysis by Betty Cannon
- Bill Moats' Response to Betty Cannon
- Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (Password Required)
- Ron Kurtz on the History of Hakomi Therapy (Password Required)
- My Psychoanalytic Journey by Stephen Mitchell
- The Contextuality and Existentiality of Emotional Trauma (Password Required)
- Tuesday Evening Video Schedule