Nancy McWilliams: Malignant narcissism, psychopathy, and overvalued beliefs
Professional exploration into the clinical territory where therapy meets narcissism, psychopathy, and ideological obsession.
This seminar is about how to remain a therapist in relationships where empathy does not work and boundaries are the only point of support.
Access the seminar — 69 €
⏱️ Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes (recorded)
💻 Format: online video, 1080 p
🌐 Languages: english (original), ukrainian, and russian (simultaneous translation)
📋 Certificate: generated automatically after viewing
📅 Access: 7 days after purchase
💳 Cost: 69 €
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What is this seminar about?
Nancy McWilliams’ seminar is a psychodynamic exploration of the forms of personal organization that challenge the very nature of the therapeutic process. It is about people with narcissistic, psychopathic traits, and overvalued beliefs—not in their everyday sense, but in a clinical sense.
Nancy talks about how such personalities are formed, what their inner reality is like, and why traditional empathy, interpretation, or “contact” in working with them may not work — or even be dangerous.
This seminar is not just about pathology. It is a reflection on therapeutic boundaries, aggression, shame, and powerlessness — which therapists encounter when love does not blossom, gratitude does not appear, and the relationship turns into a battlefield.
Key topics of the seminar
The narcissism continuum: from healthy self-esteem to a malignant form where aggression, contempt, and manipulation replace connection.
Psychopathy as an extreme manifestation: what psychopathic organization looks like in the office, and why interpretation doesn’t help there.
Overvalued beliefs: what happens when a person totally merges with an idea, and how this disrupts the possibility of change.
Typology of narcissism: from “thin-skinned” shy people to “thick-skinned” grandiose people — and how each of them affects the therapist.
Professional challenges: how to withstand aggressive transference, avoid falling into the “idealization-devaluation” trap, and preserve the therapist’s dignity.
This seminar is for professionals who want to better understand where the line between a difficult client and a destructive personality lies. And how to stay in therapy — without self-destruction.
What you will get from this seminar?
- A clear understanding of the spectrum of narcissism — from adaptive to pathological forms.
- Insight into the inner world of “unapproachable” clients: shame, idealization, fixation on control.
- Differences between psychopathic and narcissistic organization.
- Practical guidelines for protecting boundaries and professional survival.
- Clinical examples: how to work with attacking transference, narcissistic collapse, and devaluation.
- A deeper understanding of overvalued beliefs as rigid structures that cannot be changed until the capacity for reflection is restored.
Access the seminar — 69 €
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Who is this seminar for
- Psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who work with clients with narcissistic or psychopathic personality disorders, encounter destructive transference, devaluation, and need ways to cope with stress.
- Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists who need to be able to subtly distinguish between character disorders, develop interdiagnostic thinking, and avoid misinterpreting behavior.
- Supervisors and teachers who prepare young professionals to encounter patients who drain the therapist’s resources or undermine their identity.
- Professionals who work with power, aggression, or leaders—in political, educational, clinical, or media contexts where narcissistic organization can masquerade as competence.
About the lecturer
Nancy McWilliams, Ph. D., is one of the most influential figures in contemporary psychoanalytic psychology. She is Visiting Professor Emerita at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University (USA) and has a private clinical practice in New Jersey.
Her books have been used to train thousands of psychotherapists around the world. Among them are Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Psychoanalytic Formulation, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and Psychoanalytic Supervision. All of them were published by Guilford Press. Nancy is also co-editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2), an alternative to the DSM model of clinical understanding of personality.
She is a former president of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association (APA), an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and an honorary member of the psychoanalytic communities of Italy and Poland. Her lectures have been heard by professionals in over 30 countries, and her books have been translated into twenty languages.
Her research and clinical interests focus on psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the relationship between diagnosis and treatment, criticism of DSM categorical thinking, and the examination of personality organization in complex clinical cases. She has also written extensively on narcissism, trauma, altruism, dissociation, and the integration of feminist approaches into psychoanalytic practice.
Frequently asked questions
📌 Will I receive a certificate after the seminar?
Yes, a certificate will be automatically generated after viewing and will be available for download in your account.
📌 Can I watch the video on my phone?
Yes, the seminar is available on any device: smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer.
📌 How long will the video be available?
7 days from the moment of payment. This is enough time to watch the lecture at your own pace. You can continue watching at any time by paying for additional days.
📌 How will I get access after payment?
Immediately in your virtual сabinet.
📌 Can I pay from abroad?
Yes, you can pay from anywhere except countries under international sanctions. We accept international bank cards: Visa and Mastercard. We use the secure WayForPay acquiring service.
Access the seminar — 69 €
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💬 Feedback
This is not just a seminar. It is an experience that stays with me in my work with every other client. Thank you for the depth and humanity.
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