16.00-18.00 (TSS) Presented by:  Sorina Dumitrache (Romania, IMI 3year Graduate)

18.30-20.00 (TSS) Workshop: Cansu Berivan Özmen (Türkiye, IMI Graduate)

Within the framework of the Masterson Approach, this presentation will discuss how the defensive structure shaped in early object relations both protects and imprisons the individual, and the role of the therapeutic relationship in making this captivity visible. Drawing on case material, it will examine the later stages of the process, in which the loosening of defenses gives rise to abandonment depression, the anxiety of liberation, and the moments when the real self begins to express itself. The presentation focuses on the clinical challenges faced by both patient and therapist, as well as the hopeful transformations that emerge, at a time when captivity is drawing to a close.