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Metacognitive Frameworks for Social Connection and Creative Engagement (In-Person Only)
Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Breakout Room #1
Metacognitive Frameworks for Social Connection and Creative Engagement
  • 1:30-2:15pm Complex Trauma and Metacognition: From Concrete Symptom to Creative Engagement - Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP, Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, Danielle Frank, LCSW
  • 2:15-3pm Reconnecting with Others: Metacognition and Social Recovery in Psychosis - Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP, Jessica Garrelts, MS, Marlee Gieselman, BS

Complex Trauma and Metacognition: From Concrete Symptom to Creative Engagement - Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP, Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, Danielle Frank, LCSW 
Research and experience show that psychosis is a function of alienation from self and other.  We can find the roots of psychosis in the early developmental failures that are linked to complex trauma.  In this panel, we will offer three perspectives on psychosis that invite creative engagement between persons as a means for promoting greater ease within the social environment.  The first speaker focuses on ways in which psychosis can be traced to failures within the parent-child bond, providing a lack of a sense of competent personhood.  A case will be presented in which the experience of having internalized the mother’s voice, over time, could be recognized as an aspect of an interpersonal relationship rather than a concrete reality.  This process was built on an attitude of active interest in the person’s experience as a way of building space for two minds to meet and exchange experiences and perspectives.  The second paper focuses on play as an aspect of clinical work that can facilitate learning, intimacy, and personal growth.  After exploring impediments to play, the presenter looks at how readiness for play can be assessed and fostered, in part by embodying an attitude of curiosity and trust.  The final presenter will discuss creativity in relation to considerations regarding ethical clinical practice.  Clinical material will be used to discuss the use of creativity as an internal position of the therapist as a phenomenological and practical matter, bridging psychoanalytic ethics and technique.  Together, the three papers show ways in which the clinician’s willingness to engage creatively and playfully can help to enhance the reflective capacities of the person suffering from symptoms of psychosis.

Reconnecting with Others: Metacognition and Social Recovery in Psychosis - Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP, Jessica Garrelts, MS, Marlee Gieselman, BS 
Individuals with psychosis frequently experience disruptions in social functioning, including difficulties forming and maintaining relationships, reduced social support, and interpersonal withdrawal. While these challenges are often conceptualized through social cognition, less attention has been given to the role of metacognition. In this presentation, we propose that the integrated model of metacognition may offer a framework to better conceptualize difficulties related to social functioning and corresponding treatment options. Two domains of metacognition that may be particularly relevant are decentration and understanding the mind of the other. Decentration is understood as the ability to view the world with recognition that one is not at the center of all noteworthy events or actions of others. In this way, one can understand that events are the result of complex emotional, cognitive, and environmental factors. Understanding the mind of the other is the ability to form increasingly complex and integrated representations of specific other people. Metacognitive deficits in these domains may result in intolerance for social ambiguity and lack of awareness of perspectives outside the self. These obstacles may contribute to suspiciousness, hypervigilance, and misinterpretations of threat commonly observed in paranoia. This presentation will utilize the integrated model of metacognition to better understand social dysfunction in psychosis. We suggest that Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), as well as its group-based adaptation (MERITg), are therapeutic interventions that enhance metacognitive capacity and thus improve social functioning in a person centered and recovery-oriented way. We propose that enhancing metacognition through MERIT acts as a method for improving social functioning, reducing social misinterpretations, and strengthening interpersonal connectedness.



Speakers
avatar for Danielle Frank, LCSW

Danielle Frank, LCSW

Staff Psychotherapist, Lenox Hill Hospital Outpatient Center for Mental Health
Danielle Frank is a clinical social worker, with experience in community mental health, college counseling andhospital settings and is also in private practice. Her interests include trauma, gender/sexuality, psychoanalytic treatment ofpsychosis, and the psychic implications of sociopolitical... Read More →
avatar for Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP

Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP

Psychologist/Psychoanalyst, Austen Riggs Center
Marilyn Charles is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center, Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS), and Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. Affiliations include the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, Universidad de Monterrey... Read More →
avatar for Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP

Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP

Assistant Professor, Indiana State University
Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP [she/her] is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Indiana State University, where she teaches, mentors, and supervises graduate and undergraduate students. She is the founder and director of the Metacognition for... Read More →
avatar for Jessica Garrelts, MS

Jessica Garrelts, MS

PsyD student, Department of Psychology, Indiana State University
Jessica Garrelts is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Indiana State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in biology from Butler University in Indianapolis, IN in 2018. She later earned her master’s degree in psychology from... Read More →
avatar for Marlee Gieselman, BS

Marlee Gieselman, BS

PsyD student, Department of Psychology, Indiana State University
Marlee Gieselman is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Indiana State University. She earned her B.S. in psychological sciences at Western Kentucky University, and her research interests include suicide risk and serious mental illness, particularly as they relate... Read More →
avatar for Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD

Associate Director of Admissions, Austen Riggs Center
Jeremy Ridenour is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center where he serves as Staff Psychologist, Associate Director of Admission, and Director of Psychological Testing. He has published various articles on psychosis and the personality assessment. Jeremy Ridenour... Read More →
Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Breakout Room #1
  Breakout Session, In-Person Only

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