Mourning, Masochism and Melancholia: Understanding Irrational Guilt and Narcissistic Defenses in the Treatment of Complicated Grief
Live Webinar: Saturday 19th Sep 2026
About This Webinar
Irrational guilt in complicated bereavement is often more than a distressing feeling of grief. Self-blame can function as a psychological defense that aims to protect against intolerable affects, maintain attachment, and preserve an illusion of omnipotent control in the face of loss. This webinar will explore how narcissistic processes emerge in the transference-countertransference exchange, including common clinician reactions and potential enactments. Through a psychodynamic lens, participants will deepen their capacity to recognize guilt-driven defenses and guide a therapeutic process that facilitates mourning and supports more adaptive integration of the loss.
GLOBAL EXPERT SERIES
Strengthen your clinical confidence with complex bereavement
Learn to recognise hidden defences in bereavement
Webinar Details
Venue: Online on Zoom. Includes access to video recording for 90 days
Dates: Saturday, 19th of Sep 2026
Time: 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. (Sydney Time - GMT +11)
Cost: A$89
CPD Certificate: 2 hours.
GLOBAL EXPERT SERIES
Work more effectively with complicated grief
Enhance your ability to facilitate true mourning—don’t miss this clinically rich session
About Dr Paul Martin
Paul M. Martin, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the assistant director of The Center for Grief Recovery. He specializes in individual psychotherapy for those struggling with loss and grief and regularly offers continuing education workshops and case consultation for professionals working with complicated cases of bereavement. He also provides psychological debriefing in workplace settings that have experienced a death amidst their workforce and is sought after as an expert witness in litigation involving sudden and traumatic loss. Dr. Martin is an adjunct faculty member at both Northwestern University and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where he teaches psychology coursework on psychopathology, psychodynamic theory and intervention, developmental psychology, and the psychology of loss, grief, and mourning. Dr. Martin is the author of Personal Grief Rituals: Creating Unique Expressions of Loss and Meaningful Acts of Mourning.