Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships
Understanding the Complex Clinical Picture of Relational Trauma, Betrayal, & Personality Style
- Average Rating:
- 442
- Faculty:
- Ramani Durvasula, PhD, LCP
- Duration:
- 2 Hours 04 Minutes
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Copyright:
-
Mar 21, 2026
- Product Code:
- NOS096716
- Media Type:
- Digital Seminar
Description
The increased focus on working with clients who are navigating, being harmed by, or experiencing the fallout of relationships with individuals with antagonistic personality styles, such as narcissism, requires clinicians to be aware of the subtleties raised by these cases. After all, the client in the antagonistic relationship brings their own personality, schemas, self-reflective capacity, and regulation—and there’s tremendous heterogeneity in these clients’ presentations. In addition, narcissistic relationships typically entail relational trauma and betrayal, all of which can contribute to a complex clinical picture and magnify existing personality issues. In this workshop, we’ll focus on the importance of assessment and psychological safety. You’ll discover:
- The dynamics and behaviors observed in narcissistic relationships
- How to balance validation with self-reflection and accountability, ensuring you’re not enabling while doing this work
- Ethical issues to consider when working with antagonistic personality styles
- How to help clients navigate the fallout of narcissistic abuse/antagonistic relational stress in relationships
Credit
Handouts
| File type | File name | Number of pages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transcript - Antagonistic Clients (1.3 MB) | 47 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships (2.6 MB) | 26 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships - French (2.6 MB) | 26 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - Antagonistic Clients - French (1.3 MB) | 47 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships - Italian (2.6 MB) | 26 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - Antagonistic Clients - Italian (1.3 MB) | 47 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships - German (2.6 MB) | 26 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - Antagonistic Clients - German (1.3 MB) | 47 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Antagonistic Clients & Antagonistic Relationships - Spanish (2.6 MB) | 26 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - Antagonistic Clients - Spanish (1.3 MB) | 47 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Faculty
Ramani Durvasula, PhD, LCP Related seminars and products
Ramani Durvasula, PhD, LCP is a psychologist in California, the founder and CEO of LUNA Education, Training and Consulting, and professor emerita of psychology at California State University Los Angeles. She is The New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People. She is also the author of multiple other books including ”Don’t You Know Who I Am”: How to Stay Sane in the Era of Narcissism, Entitlement and Incivility and Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Relationship with a Narcissist. She has lectured and trained therapists around the world on best practices on working with clients experiencing narcissistic abuse and has developed a 36 hour virtual training and certification program in conjunction with PESI to train clinicians on how to use an antagonism-informed approach with clients experiencing narcissistic relationships.
Dr. Durvasula hosts a popular YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers, maintains a program offering support and education to thousands of survivors, and is a featured expert on the digital media platform MedCircle. She also maintains an engaged online network called the Dr. Ramani Network. She has also been widely involved in the governance of the American Psychological Association, including the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology and the APA Minority Fellowship Program. Dr. Durvasula received her MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from UCLA and completed her internship and post-doctoral training at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, with a minor in sociology in 1988 at the University of Connecticut. She resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Ramani Durvasula is the founder and CEO of LUNA Education, Training, and Consulting and has an employment relationship with the University of Johannesburg. Ramani Durvasula receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Ramani Durvasula is an associate editor for Behavioral Medicine. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science Society for Behavioral Medicine, and the International Association of Applied Psychology.
Additional Info
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)Access never expires for this product.
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Objectives
- Identify key behavioral and relational patterns that characterize antagonistic personality styles, including narcissism.
- Demonstrate strategies for balancing validation with self-reflection and accountability when working with clients in antagonistic relationships who present with antagonistic personality styles.
- Evaluate ethical considerations and clinical challenges involved in treating clients with antagonistic personality traits who are engaged in similarly antagonistic relational dynamics.
Outline
- Antagonistic personality styles who are in antagonistic relationships: Case Examples
- Brief overview of antagonism and narcissism
- Brief overview of the dynamics and behaviors observed in narcissistic relationships
- Overview of antagonistic behaviors and the contributors to these behaviors
- Brief overview of the fallout of narcissistic abuse/antagonistic relational stress (NA/ARS) in relationships
- Tenets of antagonism informed therapy
- Brief overview of tenets of clinical practice with narcissistic clients
- The issues raised by clients with antagonistic personality styles who are in antagonistic relationships
- Assessment as a central issue in working with NA/ARS
- Being trauma informed in working with clients with antagonistic personality styles who are in antagonistic relationships
- Pitfalls and vulnerabilities when doing this work
- Ethical and therapist self-care issues when doing this work
- Risks and limitations
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Other Mental Health Professionals
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Overall: 4.7
Total Reviews: 442
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