This four hour workshop will discuss Christopher Bollas’ book Catch Them Before They Fall: The Psychoanalysis of Breakdown (Routledge, 2009). All conference participants are asked to have read this book prior to attending.
Too often, psychoanalysis misses the opportunity to attend to the task of penetrating the surface of otherness. This presentation will examine both the resistances to, and the necessity for, psychoanalytic engagement—and prioritization—of issues of otherness, difference and diversity. Anxieties associated with authentic, curious, exploratory dialogue about difference and diversity are identified.
During the course of the last 40 years, mainstream North American psychoanalysis, and particularly BPSI, have gone from being a place of one dominant theory, to being a place of multiple theories. It seems the task of anyone learning analysis, at whatever stage, to choose a theory, to be able to self-identify with a theoretical tradition, and to relate that theory to one’s practice.
How do we integrate ethical reflection with the interpretations and decisions we make about money in our clinical work? The aim of this workshop is to expand the scope of our ways of thinking ethically about challenging moral dilemmas involving financial transactions encountered in both therapy and psychoanalysis. Clinical cases will be used to identify unacknowledged moral aspects of specific transference and counter-transference interactions and the desirability - technically and ethically - of alternative interventions.
Bion’s book, Transformations, is seen as enigmatic, difficult to understand and is the most challenging of all his works. Participants in this program will have the opportunity to read a paper by Dr. Brown in advance of the program that reviews and contextualizes Bion’s Transformations. The program will begin with a synopsis of Transformations by Dr. Brown with an emphasis on the clinical applications of these ideas, which will be followed by a general discussion. Dr.
"Reflections from Behind the Couch: Early, Middle, and Later Years
Psychoanalysis has famously been called the "impossible profession." This can stir fear in all of us, in terms of feeling comfortable, or even just adequate, in the face of ambivalence, paradox, madness even. How do we proceed? How do we dare to grow as professionals amidst such struggles - our patients and our own? What kind of learning takes place after the formal training period has ended?
At the free Clinical Café, an NPSI training analyst will present an excerpt from a clinical case, illustrating psychoanalytic thought and technique for those considering analytic training. Refreshments will be served. Join us for a morning of psychic and physical nourishment.