Mark Solms, Ph.D.
With discussant, Jose Saporta, M.D.

Recent neuroscientific findings in affective and cognitive neuroscience demand revisions to the psychoanalytic theory of the drives and of the unconscious respectively. This presentation will outline these revisions and discuss their clinical implications for the practice of psychoanalytic therapy.

Please note: The Zoom link will be emailed the day before the event. Register by Thursday 11/2 at 6pm.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Identify and describe the emotional drives of the human brain
2. Classify the different memory systems of the human brain and identify their behavioral manifestations
3. Adjust their clinical practice to make it commensurate with recent neuroscientific findings.

Bio
Professor Mark Solms is a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and the American and South African Psychoanalytic Associations. He is Director of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Cape Town. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He has received numerous honours and awards, including the Sigourney Prize.  He has published 350 scientific papers, and eight books, the latest being The Hidden Spring (Norton, 2021). He is the authorized editor and translator of the forthcoming Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 volumes) and Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 volumes).

References

Lee, T. & Solms, M. (2023). Managing the clinical encounter with patients diagnosed with personality disorder in a general psychiatry setting: key contributions from neuropsychoanalysis. British Journal of Psychiatry Advances, doi: 10.1192/bja.2023.43

Solms, M. (2022). Revision of Freud’s theory of the biological origin of the Oedipus complex. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 90: 555-581. doi.org/10.1080/00332828.2021.1984153

Solms, M. (2021). Revision of drive theory. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 69, 1033-1091. DOI: 10.1177/00030651211057041

Solms, M. (2018). The Neurobiological Underpinnings of Psychoanalytic Theory and Therapy. Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, 294. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00294

Smith, R. & Solms, M. (2018). Examination of the hypothesis that repression is premature automatization: a psychoanalytic case report and discussion. Neuropsychoanalysis, 20: 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2018.1473045

Abstract:

In many parts of the world, conceptualizations of human development, such as those regarding the concept of dependency, have been shaped within the context of white, Euro-American colonization. Within psychoanalysis, there has been a tendency to separate the psyche and the social, contributing to a neglect of sociocultural context in theory and practice. This presentation examines the complicity of psychoanalysis in colonized narratives of development and personality, and the impact of this complicity on racial minorities. I also explore post-colonial perspectives that challenge theoretical assumptions of non-white people as dependent and inferior. Drawing on theory, research, and practice, I will present a culturally informed, decolonizing psychoanalytic approach, emphasizing the influence of the therapist’s and the patient’s sociocultural context on the therapeutic relationship. 

Learning Objectives:

1.     Identify how colonization and sociocultural trauma shape conceptualizations of human development and personality. 

2.     Identify how attention to sociocultural context is critical for moving toward decolonized approaches to psychoanalytic psychotherapy. 

3.     Develop an understanding of a culturally informed and decolonizing psychoanalytic approach to conceptualization and technique.

Bio:

Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and the Director of Community-Based Education at the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute and Research Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University. Her research and scholarship focus on immigration, trauma, race, and culturally-informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Her publications include over 90 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in books. She is also in Independent Practice, and works primarily with survivors of trauma from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Dr. Tummala-Narra is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and the Asian American Journal of Psychology. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy (2016) and the editor of Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance (2021), both published by the American Psychological Association Books.

References:

Bhatia, S. (2019). Searching for justice in an unequal world: Reframing Indigenous psychology as a cultural and political project. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 39(2), 107-114.

Dajani, K.G. (2020). Cultural determinants in Winnicott’s developmental theories. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 17, 6-21.

Tummala-Narra, P. (2020). The fear of immigrants. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 37(1), 50-61.       

Tummala-Narra, P.  (2016). Psychoanalytic theory and cultural competence in psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 

Rogers-Sirin, L., & Gupta, T. (2012). Cultural identity and mental health: Differing trajectories among Asian and Latino youth. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(4), 555-566. 

Accreditation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Accreditation Criteria and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of Rhode Island Hospital and Rhode Island Association for Psychoanalytic Psychologies. Rhode Island Hospital is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physicians: Rhode Island Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Psychologists: This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 3 continuing education credits. Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Social Workers: This program has been approved for 3 Social Work Continuing Education hours in Cross Cultural Practice for relicensure by National Association for Social Work RI Chapter, in accordance with 258 CMR.

This event will be held virtually, via zoom. Please preregister by 5pm on Tuesday 1/31 to receive a link. Links will be sent out the day of the event.

Abstract

This presentation considers evidence from 14 years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with my patient “Sam.” I began seeing Sam when he was 11 years old. He is now 25.

This presentation is evidence-based, in that we examine the evidence Sam has produced. This evidence is a series of “graphic novels” which Sam began drawing during our first session of psychotherapy. I propose we examine this evidence together and discuss what it tells us about autism. 

As background for our discussion are three papers dealing with Sam and the evidence supplied by his drawings. 

Objectives

At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss some of the defences used by those with autism and assess how autistic defences may shift in response to psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

2. Describe aspects of psychosexual development in those with autism and explain the possible impacts of autism on how psychosexual development unfolds.

3. Compare the defensive and the adaptive aspects of artistic rituals and adumbrate the anxieties which provoke these rituals.

Bio

Robin Holloway is a Registered Psychologist providing psychoanalytic psychotherapy to children, adolescents. He is a graduate of CICAPP (The Canadian Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy) where he is now a supervisor and a teacher. Robin is in private practice at The Willow Centre in Toronto, Canada. Here, Robin has the privilege of working with a small group of like-minded clinicians where together we can discuss cases. Previously, Robin worked for 20 years in the Child and Family Services department of a public hospital where he participated in weekly assessments of children referred for possible autism spectrum disorder. Inspired by this experience and by hearing Anne Alvarez speak about autism to a group of graduate psychoanalytic psychotherapists (members of the Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists), Robin went on to develop a special interest in children with autism and Asperger’s. This in turn has led to several publications. Robin has been honoured to participate in the ASD Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

References

Bernier, R., Dawson, G., and Nigg, J. (2020). What science tells us about autism spectrum disorder: making the right choices for your child. The Guilford Press.

Holloway, R. (2021). High-functioning autism: changes over fourteen years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy: part 1. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 47(1), 67-89.

Holloway, R. (2021). High-functioning autism: changes over fourteen years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy: part two. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 47(2), 168-187.

Holloway, R. (2022). High-functioning autism: changes over fourteen years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy: part three. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 48(1), 6-29.

Leichsenring, F., Leweke, F., Klein, S., and Steinert, C. (2015). The empirical status of psychodynamic psychotherapy – an update: Bambi’s alive and kicking. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(3), 129-148.

Accreditation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Accreditation Criteria and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of Rhode Island Hospital and Rhode Island Association for Psychoanalytic Psychologies. Rhode Island Hospital is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physicians: Rhode Island Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Psychologists: This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.5 continuing education credits. Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Social Workers: This program has been approved for 1.5 Social Work Continuing Education hours in Cross Cultural Practice for relicensure by National Association for Social Work RI Chapter, in accordance with 258 CMR.

Abstract

In this paper, I’ll discuss my clinical work with people who, sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder, have now returned home to live life after serving life, and explore their efforts to reckon with what they have done (and, frequently, what was done to them) despite being confined in traumatogenic institutions that functioned to thwart such growth. Using case material, I’ll reflect on the ways in which a psychodynamic approach can help navigate the overwhelm of violent crimes and violent punishments, and the unresolved trauma that usually precedes both, and offer ideas about how we can and why we should develop our collective capacities to bear and to repair - in the hopes of transforming the trauma that incarceration reenacts.

Objectives 

1. Describe the proliferation of life sentences in the United States and its disproportionate impact on Black people, poor people, and people of color.

2. Identify some of the reasons, from a psychoanalytic perspective, why people who commit murder and are sentenced to life in prison are driven to understand and transform the harm they’ve caused. 

3. Explain why working with people who have endured and perpetrated violence can be challenging for clinicians. 

Bio

Elizabeth (Beth) Kita is a clinical social worker in public/private practice in San Francisco, California. In her private practice, she works primarily with people contending with complex posttraumatic stress; her work in a public clinic is with people who are returning to the community following lengthy periods of incarceration. She obtained her MSW from UC Berkeley and her PhD from Smith College. Beth teaches in the MSW program at UC Berkeley, and is the Co-Chair of the Coalition for Clinical Social Work at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. 

References

Cartwright, D. (2010). Containing states of mind: Exploring Bion’s container model in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. New York, NY: Routledge.

Cullors, P. (2018). Abolition and reparations: Histories of resistance, transformative justice, and accountability. Harvard Law Review, 132, 1684 – 1694.

de Maat, S., De Jonghe, F., Schoevers, R., & Dekker, J. (2009). The effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: A systematic review of empirical studies. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 17(1), 1-23.

Kita, E. (2019). “They hate me now but where was everyone when I needed them?”: Mass incarceration, projective identification, and social work praxis. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 26(1), 25-49.

Mauer, M., & Nellis, A. (2018). The meaning of life: The case for abolishing life sentences. The New Press.

McIvor, D. W. (2016). Mourning in America: Race and the politics of loss. New York: Cornell University Press.

Parker, R. N. (2019). Slavery in the white psyche. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 26(1), 84-103.

Purnell, D. (2021). Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and the Pursuit of Freedom. Verso Books.

Sered, D. (2019). Until we reckon: Violence, mass incarceration, and a road to repair. The New Press.

Stevenson, B. (2019). Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent 6. punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system. The New York Times, 1619.

This lecture will be held remotely via zoom. Register by Tuesday 5/3 to receive a link for the meeting.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

The course describes Intersectionality and Intersubjectivity, two theoretical frameworks used to guide socially just clinical practice. These models guide the therapist in initiating “third space conversations,” the interactional, therapeutic field where the clinician’s and the client’s intersectional social identities and subjective attitudes are present and influential (Aron, 2006). The importance of a socio-historical perspective when working clinically will be demonstrated with the use of composite clinical vignettes that demonstrate the therapist engaging with clients around systemic injustices. Attention will also be given to how inequalities may be implicitly enacted in therapeutic practice.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate how Intersectionality Theory can inform clinical practice. 

2. Use Intersubjective Systems Theory as a framework for third space conversation. 

3. Discuss how injustice and inequalities may be implicitly enacted in clinical practice.

Biography:

Joan Granucci Lesser, PhD, LICSW is a social work clinician, researcher, educator and author. She is Adjunct Associate Professor at Smith College School for Social Work and has a private psychotherapy practice.  Dr. Lesser is the co-author of two social work textbooks and numerous articles and book chapters, and has presented locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of clinical topics. She received the 2012 National Association of Social Worker MA Chapter award for “greatest contribution to social work practice” for founding Pioneer Valley Professionals, an interdisciplinary group practice in Holyoke, MA. 

References: 

Altman, N. (2020).  Intersectionality: From politics to identity.  In M. Belkin & C. White (Eds). Intersectionality and relational psychoanalysis:  New perspectives on race, gender and sexuality (Pp. 218-226) New York:  Routledge

Aron, l. (2006).  Analytic impasse and the third; Clinical implications of intersubjectivity theory. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 87(3): 49-368.

Collins, P. H. (2019). Intersectionality as critical social theory. Durham: Duke University Press.

Layton, L. (2018). Relational theory in socio-historical context. In L. Aron, S. Grand, & J. Slochower (Eds). De-idealizing Relational theory: a critique from within. (Pp. 209-234).  New York:  Routledge.

Leichsenring, F. and Steinert. C. (2019). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy: An up-to-date review (pp 49-74) In D. Kelly and J.S. Ogrodniczul, J. S. (Eds) Contemporary psychodynamic psychotherapy:  evoling clinical practice (pp 49-74) Oxford, UK; Elsevier Press.

SPRING CONFERENCE: Saturday April 9th, 2022 9:00AM-12:30PM

This conference will be virtual, using Zoom. You will receive the Zoom link via email day before the conference. Please register for more information on how to attend.

3.0 Continuing Education Credits. Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

Issues of mortality and limitation affect both therapists and patients. This workshop will focus first on issues of aging in the therapist, including practical and ethical concerns related to cognitive decline, hearing loss, diminished energy, and similar challenges, noting also some clinical advantages of elderly clinicians (e.g., breadth of knowledge, wisdom, humility, sense of proportion, increased compassion). It will then address aging in patients, with special reference to the “Later Life” section of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 2nd ed. (2017). Therapeutic benefits of acknowledging and mourning limitation will be emphasized. 

Learning Objectives

After this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify three professional challenges that confront aging therapists.

2. Articulate three common professional misperceptions about working with elderly patients.

3. Use the “Later Life” section of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (Guilford, 2017) to conceptualize central psychological issues in elderly patients.

Biography:

Nancy McWilliams teaches at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and practices in Lambertville, New Jersey. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (1994, rev. ed. 2011), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (2004) and is associate editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 2nd ed. (2017). A former president of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association, she has been featured in three APA videos of master clinicians, the most recent being “Three Approaches to Psychotherapy.” Her books are available in 20 languages; she lectures widely both nationally and internationally.

References:

Baum-Baicker, C., & Sisti, D. W. (2012). Clinical wisdom in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy: A philosophical and qualitative analysis. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 23, 13-40.

Del Corno, F., & Plotkin, D. (Eds.) (2017). Later life. In V. Lingiardi, & N. McWilliams (Eds.) Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, 2nd ed. (PDM-2) (pp. 751-888). New York: Guilford.

Kernberg, O. F. (2010). Some observations on the process of mourning. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 91(3), 601-619.

McWilliams, N. (2017). Psychoanalytic reflections on limitation: Aging, dying, generativity, and renewal. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 34(1), 50-57.  Also in C. Masur, (Ed.) (2018), Flirting with death: Psychoanalysts consider mortality (pp. 25-40). New York: Routledge.

Parens, H. (2018). Mortality – the inevitable challenge: The development of acceptance of one’s mortality. In C. Masur (Ed.), Flirting with death: Psychoanalysts consider mortality (pp. 72-96). New York: Routledge.

This lecture will be held remotely via zoom. Register by Tuesday 3/1 to receive a link for the meeting.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

Countertransference has come to be viewed as an essential component of all psychotherapies and may be particularly intense during the treatment of suicidal patients. Problems that arise in the course of psychotherapy of suicidal patients may be understood in relation to the therapist’s countertransference reactions. Lack of awareness of countertransference reactions of malice and aversion may be suicide inviting. Countertransference reactions may also alert the therapist to dangers that the patient is unable to articulate. In this presentation we consider case examples of countertransference manifestations and their effects on the treatment of the suicidal patient.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

1) Identify common problems arising during the course of psychotherapy with suicidal patients.

2) Describe the influence of countertransference reactions on psychotherapy with suicidal patients.

3) Assess the role of communication in treating suicidal patients.

Biography:

Mark Goldblatt is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a Faculty Member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and chair of the Discussion Group on ‘Treating the Suicidal Patient’ at the APsaA national meetings. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and teaches and supervises residents at McLean Hospital. He is a Founding Member of the Boston Suicide Study Group which focuses on the psychoanalytic understanding of self-destructive patients. He presents internationally and publishes widely on many aspects of suicidality and self-attack.

References:

Briggs, S.,  Netuveli, G., Gould, N., Gkaravella, A., Gluckman, N.,  Kangogyere, P., Farr, R., Goldblatt, M., Lindner, R.,  (2019). The effectiveness of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy for reducing suicide attempts and self-harm: Systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry 1-9. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2019.33.

Maltsberger JT, Buie DH. Countertransference hate in the treatment of suicidal patients. (1974). Arch Gen Psychiatry. 30(5):625-33.

Goldblatt MJ, Briggs S, Lindner R. Schechter, M and Ronningstam E. (2015). Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with Suicidal Adolescents. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 29:1, 20-37, DOI:10.1080/02668734.2015.1004188: 

Schechter, M., Ronningstam, E., Herbstman, B., Goldblatt, M.J. (2019). Psychotherapy with Suicidal Patients: The Integrative Psychodynamic approach of the Boston Suicide Study Group. Medicina DOI 10.3390/medicina55060303

Gabbard, G.O. (2003). Miscarriages of Psychoanalytic treatment with suicidal patients. International Journal of Psychoanalysis  34:239-261

This lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Registration will open 30 days prior to the event.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits (Cross-Cultural)

Themes centering on the challenges and strengths associated with clinical work involving Intraracial/intercultural dyads are often omitted from the discourse concerning psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Given this premise, I plan to illustrate via a case vignette how issues of ethnocultural transference and countertransference emerged as salient and functional features in psychotherapeutic work. Additionally, ideas from self-psychology, object relations theory, relational theory and intersectionality will ground the tone and tenor of my discussion.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1. Describe examples of ethnocultural transference and countertransference as per the case vignette presentation  

2. Explain how self-object transference with intraracial/intracultural dyads can enhance therapeutic alliance 

3. Explain how the curative aspects of ethnocultural transference via the case vignette contributed to the client’s psychological functioning  

Biography:

Samuel R. Aymer is an Associate Professor at Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College where he teaches the following courses: Clinical Practice and Violence Against Women. He is also the chairperson of the School’s Clinical Method. His research centers on: the intersection of trauma, partner violence and the application of psychodynamic theories in clinal work with diverse client populations. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Aymer worked for several health, mental health, and victim assistance organizations throughout New York City. Dr. Aymer maintains a clinical private practice—specializing in group and individual treatment with adolescents and adults.

References 

Carter, R. (2007).  Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. Counseling Psychologist, 35, 1-95. 

Johnson, V.E., & Carter, T. T. (2020).  Black cultural strengths and psychosocial well-being:  An Empirical analysis with black American adults. The Journal of Black Psychology, 46, 55-87.   

Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration the self. New York: International University Press.

Mayo, J. A. (2004). Psychotherapy with African American population: Modification of traditional approaches. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, Spring, 10–13.

Pine, F. (1990). Drive, ego, object and self: A synthesis for clinical work. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

NOVEMBER CONFERENCE: Saturday November, 6th, 9:00AM-12:30PM=

This conference will be virtual, using Zoom. Registration will open 30 days prior to event.

3.0 Continuing Education Credits. Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

​​

The lecture will juxtapose the intrapsychic idea of reparation, based on understanding the unconscious anxieties of harming the love object, with the intersubjective ideas of  repairing rupture and restoring recognition. That is, it aims to use and also reformulate the Kleinian idea of reparation of the internal  object. Researchers have noted a process beginning in infancy  of rupture and repair, generating the experience of a lawful world of secure attachment. I call this the moral Third. In the absence of intersubjective repair the child may interpret her need for acknowledgment and soothing as destructive (destabilizing) to the needed other. This formulation allows us to see how enactments in the analytic relationship become governed by mutual fear of harming. Fear of harming and being injured drives the doer-done to complementarity involving both partners. Acknowledgment of fears and injury arising in enactment are therapeutically essential and strengthen th​e moral Third. We also consider the social implications of modifying the doer-done to complementary relation via the experience of two minds recognizing each other. 

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1. Identify anxieties related to the belief that one's own needs are destructive

2. Describe how emotional safety is influenced by recognition of distress and the dynamic of rupture and repair including therapeutic acknowledgment

3. Recognize how therapists and patients can extricate themselves from enactments based in dissociation

Biography:

Jessica Benjamin is best known as the author of  The Bonds of Love (1988),  which is translated into many languages, and of “Beyond Doer and Done To: An Intersubjective View of Thirdness” (2004), the basis for her recent book Beyond Doer and done To: Recognition Theory, Intersubjectivity and the Third (2018)..  In addition she is the author of   Like Subjects, Love Objects (1995); and Shadow of the Other (1998).    Her article “Beyond Doer and Done To: An Intersubjective View of Thirdness” has been one of the most frequently cited articles on PEP web for many years. She has been one of the leaders in the relational movement in psychoanalysis since its inception.  She teaches and supervises at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis as well as at the Stephen Mitchell Relational Studies Center of which she is a co-founder. She also initiated and participated in a series of workshops for mental health and community professionals in Israel/Palestine called The Acknowledgment Project.

References 

Tronick, E. 1989. Emotions and Emotional Communication in Infants. American Psychology 44: 112=119.

Benjamin, J.2004 Doer and Done To: An Intersubjective View of Thirdness. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 73: 5-46​

Benjamin, J. (2018). “Our Appointment in Thebes,” in Beyond Doer and Done To: Recognition Theory, Intersubjectivity and the Third. New York & London: Routledge

Bromberg, P. 2011. “Mentalize This” in The Shadow of the Tsunami. New York & Lond: Routledge

Winnicott, D. W. 1971 The Use of an Object and Relating through Identification. In Playing and Reality. New York Penguin.

This lecture will take place virtually, via zoom. You must preregister to attend this event

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) is an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy which draws from attachment theory and the psychodynamic relational synthesis in order to bolster a patient's resiliency, reflective capacity, and curiosity about their own mind and the minds of others. Initially developed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, MBT is being investigated in the treatment of diverse conditions including trauma, eating disorders, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. A core component of MBT is the therapist's ability to communicate an understanding of the patient's subjective experience in a way that allows the patient to feel understood and valued. This feeling of understanding and connection is thought to enhance the patient's ability to learn from therapy and apply these lessons to life outside the therapeutic encounter.

Learning objectives:

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to: 

1. Recognize the characteristics of good or poor mentalizing within a therapeutic encounter.

2. Apply the principles of MBT to enhance a patient's mentalizing capacity.

3. Explain the relevance of epistemic trust to a therapeutic relationship.

4. Distinguish MBT's from other psychodynamically-informed treatments in its approach to interventions in therapy.

Biography:

Paul Baker, MD is a psychiatrist at Butler Hospital working primarily with young adults in a Partial Hospital Program and outpatient setting. Dr. Baker is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Clinician Educator at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he completed residency in general psychiatry. He also serves as a psychotherapy supervisor for the psychiatry residency and teaches Brown medical students as a Clinical Neurosciences Clerkship preceptor. 

References:

Bateman, A., & Fonagy, P. (1999). Effectiveness of Partial Hospitalization in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156(10), 1563–1569. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.156.10.1563

Bateman, A., & Fonagy, P. (2009). Randomized Controlled Trial of Outpatient Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Structured Clinical Management for Borderline Personality Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(12), 1355–1364. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09040539

Egyed, K., Király, I., & Gergely, G. (2013). Communicating Shared Knowledge in Infancy. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1348–1353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612471952

Fonagy, P., & Allison, E. (2014). The role of mentalizing and epistemic trust in the therapeutic relationship. Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 51(3), 372–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036505

Markin, R. D. (2013). Mentalization-based psychotherapy interventions with mothers-to-be. Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 50(3), 360–5. https://doi.org/10.1037/a003199

SEPTEMBER CONFERENCE: Saturday September 18th, 2021 9:00AM-12:30PM

**Pre-Registration is required. Registration closes on Thursday 9/16 at 5pm**

This conference will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

3.0 Continuing Education Credits (Cross-Cultural). Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”  

                                             Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

The relevance of Fanon’s concept of cognitive dissonance considering the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd makes clear that as a society we are experiencing the deeply embedded structural effects of racism and white supremacy. This is further evidenced by a rise in anti-Asian violence and the side effects of the insurrectionary damage that threatens to unravel democracy and undermine a fragile consensus to protect America’s experiment in racial and gender justice. We are living in times that have contributed to a sense of disconnectedness for many individuals; and the issues needing to be dealt with are challenging and complex (e.g.. Covid-19 racial health disparities; overt racist and white supremacist activity at local & national levels; national economic recession). Many BIPOC individuals (clients/patients and staff) have experienced not only violence and discrimination, but also live with symptoms of trauma and have an increased likelihood of developing health related problems because of this exposure. Physical violence or the threat of violence leads to trauma, which leads to poor health outcomes.

This workshop will focus on an analysis of racism from structural, (social) psychological, and applied perspectives.  Utilizing critical race theory and intersectionality, participants will come to understand the reasoning for this emphasis. An analysis of intersectional oppressions will be examined in relationship to sociopolitical and economic factors, and historical themes evident in today’s society.

Objectives: 

1. Describe one’s own attitudes and beliefs regarding stereotyping, bias, and power-imbalances on the client system. 

2.  List the impact of inequities, diversity, difference, and systems of oppression upon life experiences and the provision of services.

3. Apply the skills associated with cultural humility and knowledge of social inequities at all systems levels.

4. Identify and apply anti-racist clinical interventions

5. Demonstrate an understanding of the ways that systems of oppression impact the service delivery system and the provision of services to clients/patients.

References:

Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents (Virtual Talk) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvYzyqUdUfY

Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem: In Conversation On Being with Krista Tippett https://www.breaker.audio/on-being-studios/e/67342362 

AUDRE LORDE, “THE USES OF ANGER: WOMEN RESPONDING TO RACISM (1981,2012)

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1981-audre-lorde-uses-anger-women-responding-racism/

Brené Brown with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unlocking-us-with-bren%C3%A9-brown/id1494350511?i=1000476611079

American Psychiatric Association Turns Inward, Recognizes Nearly 2 Centuries of Racism In Profession https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/05/05/apa-racism-report

Adichie, C.N. (2009 July). The danger of a single story. TED Global 2009. Oxford, England. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Tippett, K. (Host). (2015). How trauma and resilience cross generations with Rachel Yehuda.  K. Tippett. (Executive Producer), On Being.  Retrieved from: https://onbeing.org/programs/rachel-yehuda-how-trauma-and-resilience-cross-generations/

Tourse, R., Hamilton-Mason, J., & Wewiorski, N., (2018). Institutional Legalization of Racism: Exploitation of the Core Groups. In R. Tourse., J. Hamilton-Mason, & N. Wewiorski, Systemic Racism in America - Its Perpetuation through Scaffolding, (pp. 39-60).

Jacob Bor, SD † Atheendar S Venkataramani, MD  † Prof David R Williams, PhD Alexander C Tsai, MD. The Lancet   Published:June 21, 2018. Police killings and their spillover effects on the mental health of black Americans: a population-based, quasi-experimental study. retrieved https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31130-9/fulltext

This conference will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits. Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

Dreams are as much a part of the natural world as the rain that falls and the sun that shines and varying approaches of dream interpretation have persisted from the beginning of time. Through his method of analogy or “amplification,” Jung had the ability to “match” analysands’ current life circumstances or dreams with resonant patterns found in myths, stories, and images, at a “macrocosmic” level, by connecting resonant collective motifs with personal experiences. Contemporary infant researcher/psychoanalysts, have looked at the “microcosmic” level of non-verbal pattern matching and discovered that communication styles are generalizable, persisting throughout the lifespan. Portals of understanding can be reached via the macrocosm or microcosm, to locate resonant pattern matching, central for life. Complex Adaptive Systems theories will ground this presentation and offer wholistic perspectives of clinical dream work.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1) Define and give examples of the method of amplification

2) Articulate a basic definition of Complex Systems theory

3) Compare and contrast Jung’ s macro-cosmic pattern matching with the micro-cosmic pattern matching methods of infant researchers who apply their findings across the life-span

4) Apply Jung’s method of amplification and intersubjective models from infant research to work with dreams in psychotherapy.

5) Demonstrate pattern matching and resonance through myth, story, image and through intersubjective resonance in the clinical setting

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beebe, B. and Lachmann, F. (2013). The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment (Relational Perspectives Book Series. New York: Routledge.

Carter, L. 2011. “A Jungian Contribution to a Dynamic System Understanding of Disorganized Attachment.” Journal of Analytical Psychology, 56 (3), 334-340

Carter, L. (2019). “Jung as Craftsman.” In Jung’s Red Book for Our Time: Searching for Soul Under Postmodern Conditions, Vol. 3. Eds. M. Stein and T. Arzt. Chiron Publications. Asheville, NC

Sander, L. (2014). Living Systems, Evolving Consciousness, and the Emerging Person: A Selection of Papers from the Life Work of Louis Sander (Psychoanalytic Inquiry Series). New York: Routledge

Schore, A.N. (2012). The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology). New York: W.Norton and Company

Siegel, D.J. (2015). The Developing Mind, Second Edition. New York: The Guilford Press.

Tronick, Ed and Gold, C. M. (2019). The Power of Discord: Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust. New York: Little, Brown, Spark.

Linda Carter MSN, CS, IAAP is a nurse and a Jungian analyst practicing in Carpinteria, CA, Providence, RI, nationally and internationally via internet ; teaches at Pacifica Graduate Institute; psychotherapist for 40 years. A graduate of Georgetown, Yale and the C. G. Jung Institute-Boston, Linda was the Journal of Analytical Psychology Book Review Editor, US Editor-in-Chief and now Arts and Culture Editor. Founder and chair of the Art and Psyche Working Group, she initiated and edits the outreach project Art in a Time of World Crisis: Interconnection and Companionship. Linda has published widely, taught internationally, especially in China.

SPRING CONFERENCE: April 10, 2021, 9:00AM-12:30PM

This conference will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

3.0 Continuing Education Credits. Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

It is remarkable to note the pervasive desexualization of psychoanalysis, the once sex-infused theory of human development. Through the exploration of erotics in clinical process, this paper will address the many manifestations of erotic longing in psychoanalysis. Our theories have become desexualized to an extent that fails to prepare clinicians with the necessary armamentarium to cope with the level of desire and erotic material likely to emerge. This paper aims to address the deficiency in our literature and theories of technique and to encourage more open discussion about erotic transferences in all of their manifestations. Two cases will be presented that illustrate these concepts.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1. Identify and explore aspects of erotic transferences and countertransferences, especially as these relate to the multiple meanings underlying erotic transferences.

2. To explore the ways in which the analyst’s countertransference can aid in elaborating the meanings of erotic transferences through unconscious communications.

3. Acquire greater comfort in the identification and exploration of their own countertransference, especially as it includes erotic aspects.

Andrea Celenza, Ph.D. is Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. Co-Director (with Martha Stark, MD) of a blended, online program in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She has two online courses and is the recipient of several awards. She has authored two books, including Erotic Revelations: Clinical Applications and Perverse Scenarios. She is in private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bolognini, S. (1994). Transference: Erotised, erotic, loving, affectionate. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 75, 73-86.

Celenza, A. (2014). Erotic Revelations: Clinical Applications and Perverse Scenarios. NY: Routledge.

Fonagy, P. (2008). A genuinely developmental theory of sexual enjoyment and its implications for psychoanalytic technique. Journal American Psychoanalytic Association, 56, 11-36.

Stein, R. (1998). The poignant, the excessive and the enigmatic in sexuality. International Journal Psychoanalysis, 79, 253-268.

Celenza, A. (1998). Precursors to therapist sexual misconduct. Psychoanalytic

Psychology, 15:3, 378-395.

March 3, 2021, Wednesday Evening Lecture Series

This Wednesday Evening Lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits. Attendance will be verified through Zoom.

The tripartite structure of the oedipal complex has been central to Freudian understandings of the psychoanalytic subject. In the early 1950’s, however, Jacques Lacan introduced a revised reading of the structural relation between father, mother and child by presenting death as a fourth term that determines the subject’s mythic relation to the self and others. By working through a rereading of the case of the Rat Man in his lecture “The Neurotic’s Individual Myth,” Lacan shows how obsessional neurosis reveals deeper layers of myth that may shape subjectivity even across generations. This workshop will focus on understanding the mythical psychic structures expressed in American race relations. It will investigate how myths about race position racialized individuals within oedipal relations of Eros and aggression that are fundamentally determined by deep psychic relations to the fourth term applied by Lacan to the oedipal dynamic, the factor of death that defines a fundamental relation to subjectivity and alterity. We will work through this reading of the mythic structure of race in America by first returning to Lacan’s lecture and then advancing toward an investigation of race in fiction by the African American author Ralph Ellison.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1. Describe how Lacan rethinks the oedipal complex through neurosis and death.

2. Analyze how death becomes overlapped with myth to shape psychic fears and obsessions.

3. Describe how the static four-part oedipal structure acts as a frame into which racial others are actively inserted.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. George, Sheldon. Trauma and Race: A Lacanian Analysis of African-American Identity. Texas: Baylor UP, 2016.

2. Lacan, Jacques. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Norton, 1981.

3. Laurent, Eric. “Racism 2.0.” Lacan Quotidien 371: 1–6 (2014).

4. Žižek, Slavoj. “Love Thy Neighbor? No thanks.” The Plague of Fantasies. New York: Verso, 1997.

5. Muller, John. “Cognitive psychology and the ego: Lacanian theory and empirical research.” Psychoanalysis Contemporary Thought, 5(2): 257–291 (1982).

Sheldon George is Professor of English and Chair of the English department at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts.  His scholarship centers most directly on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and applies cultural and literary theory to analyses of American and African-American literature and culture. His most recent publications include two coedited special issues of the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society: one titled “Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Interventions into Culture and Politics” and the other called “African Americans and Inequality.” His book Trauma and Race:  A Lacanian Study of African American Racial Identity was published in 2016 by Baylor University Press. He is coeditor of Reading Contemporary Black British and African American Women Writers: Race, Ethics, Narrative Form and is currently completing a collection on Lacan and Race.

This Wednesday Evening Lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

Helping professionals often fail to appreciate the appeal of violence, which makes it difficult for them to understand and treat people whose violent behaviors have disrupted their lives. In this presentation I will explain how our personal values and experiences often blind us to how violence “works” in the short term. Examples from public life, personal experience, and clinical practice will clarify the roots of such phenomena as revenge, domination, and destruction, and suggest practical approaches to dealing with the problem of violence. Differences between sporadic, habitual, and addictive patterns of violence will also be discussed.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES. Participants will learn:

1. To analyze why violence is so appealing and so resistant to change.

2. To list the commonalities and differences between patterns of violence.

3. To describe how to form a helping relationship with a violent person.

Dr. Goldwater is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on the faculty of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, where he is the director of the addictions program. He has written and lectured on a great variety of subjects including men and women; childhood and maturation; fantasy and creativity; and the treatment of impulsivity and addiction. He is also a musician and has been the leader of Panharmonium, an International Folkdance band, since 1992.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gilligan, J. (1996), Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and its Causes. New York: Grosset/Putnam.

Goldwater, E. (2004), Getting Mad and Getting Even. Modern Psychoanalysis, 29:23-36.

Goldwater, E. (2007), The Joy of Violence. Modern Psychoanalysis, 32:20-42.

Hedges, Chris (2002). War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. New York: PublicAffairs. 

Short, Dan. (2016). The Evolving Science of Anger Management, Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. 26. 10.1037/int0000059.

Tavris, Carol (1983). Anger: the Misunderstood Emotion. New York: Simon and Schuster.

This Wednesday Evening Lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

Distressed couples typically enter our offices experiencing a great deal of pain and confusion. They are beset by a complex amalgam of dynamics that they often don’t understand: underlying personal conflicts, projections and projective identification, divergent subjective experiences, and an extraordinary need for acceptance and love. While analytic therapists already have rich therapeutic resources that can help couples better understand and improve their relationship, recent human laboratory advances by researchers have proven helpful in further enriching our understanding and treatment of the surprising biological and psychophysiologic dynamics that underlie marital discord, friendship, and love.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify how gender affects autonomic arousal in marital/couple conflict.
2. List the components of the “core triad of balance” and how they affect partners’ intrapsychic experience.
3. Discuss the nature and function of repair behaviors in soothing and regulating marital/couple upset and distress.

Peter G. Erickson, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Providence, Rhode Island and  former president of the Rhode Island Psychological Association. He has served on the Board of the Coalition of Mental Health Professionals in Rhode Island and as a representative on the R.I. Blue Cross/Blue Shield Mental Health/Substance Abuse and Patient Centered Medical Home Advisory Committees. He supervises psychology and psychiatry residents at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine and has completed training for the Gottman method of Marital Therapy.

REFERENCES
Gottman, JM & Krokoff, LJ (1989). Marital Interaction and Satisfaction: A Longitudinal View. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 57(1), 47-52.

Gottman, Coan, Carrerre, & Swanson (1998). Predicting Marital Happiness and Stability From Newlywed Interactions; Journal of Marriage and Family; Vol 60, No. 1; Feb, pp.5-22.

Gottman, J & Levenson, R (1992). Marital Processes Predictive of Later Dissolution: Behavior, Physiology, and Health; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; Vol 63 (2); August, pp. 221.233.

Garanzini, S, Yee, A, Gottman, John, Gottman, Julie, Cole, C, Preciado, M, Jasculca, C (2017). Results of Gottman Method Couples Therapy with Gay and Lesbian Couples.

Gottman, John & Gottman, Julie (2017). The Natural Principles of Love; Journal of Family Theory and Review.

As part of RIAPP's commitment to more active engagement in anti-racism work and to highlighting black and brown voices in the field, we are honored to host a free virtual film screening via Zoom of Black Psychoanalysts Speak (Basia Winigrad, 2014, PEP Video Grants 2014). The film is 60 minutes long and will be followed by a 45 minute community discussion. The purpose of this community experience is to foster a space within RIAPP where we can collectively engage in dialogue about issues of race, ethnicity, power, and privilege.

As outlined on the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing website (https://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=pepgrantvs.001.0001a:), "The film is intended to raise awareness of the need for greater openness and understanding of cultural and ethnic pressures in psychoanalytic training, in transferential and countertransferential interactions, and in the recruitment of people of coulour into psychoanalytic training. These participants contend that psychoanalysis has a long history as a progressive movement devoted to the common good. Psychoanalysis asks us to examine the processes of self deception that perpetuate both individual unhappiness and social structures that are inequitable and oppressive. Yet psychoanalytic education has for the most part focused on training and treating the relatively privileged. The Black psychoanalysts here examine this dilemma and engage in a vibrant and thought provoking discussion about race, culture, class and the unrealized promise of psychoanalysis." 

Cost: FREE

This Wednesday Evening Lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

In this program, Dr. Sarit Lesser will provide an overview of collective trauma and the psychology of pandemics. She will present recent studies and publications about trauma and the psychological impact of the Covid pandemic. Some of the topics reviewed will be virtual countertransference, collective forgetting, vicarious traumatization, virtual mourning, psychotherapists’ sacrifice and self-preservation. Lastly, she will discuss therapeutic implications and ways to augment learning and psychosocial resilience during Covid. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to:

1. Review the distinction between individual trauma and collective trauma. 

2. Analyze the psychological impact of pandemics, quarantine, and isolation;

3. Discuss the process of collective memory of trauma and collective forgetting; 

4. Discuss the symbolic meaning of teletherapy: countertransference, virtual mourning, and the body. 

5. Assess psychotherapists’ Vicarious Traumatization During the COVID-19 Pandemic: between sacrifice and self-preservation  

6. Critically evaluate approaches to treatment of contemporary trauma experiences related to the coronavirus pandemic: from managing fear to fostering existential maturity. 

Sarit Lesser, Psy.D is a clinical psychologist in Providence, RI. She is a member of the medical staff at The Miriam Hospital. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and her graduate studies at William James College in Boston. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Rhode Island Hospital Partial Hospitalization Program. She is an instructor at the Division of Pre-College and Summer Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, where she is teaching a course on trauma and recovery. Her research on the development of caregiving identity in new mothers was recently published as a book chapter in Identity and Lifelong Learning:  Becoming through Lived Experience. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aafjes-van Doorn, K., Békés, V., Prout, T. A., & Hoffman, L. (2020). Psychotherapists’ vicarious traumatization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S148–S150. 

Adelman, A. (2020). Virtual Mourning. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 483–486. 

Békés, V., Aafjes-van Doorn, K., Prout, T. A., & Hoffman, L. (2020). Stretching the analytic frame: Analytic therapists’ experiences with remote therapy during COVID-19. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 437–446.

Cole, G. (2020). COVID-19, Limit Experiences, and Undergoing the Situation: Therapeutic Implications for Pandemic Times. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 1-8. 

Damir Huremovic. (2019). Psychiatry of Pandemics: A Mental Health Response to Infection Outbreak. Springer. 

Davis, A. D. (2011). The forgotten apocalypse: Katherine Anne Porter’s “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” Traumatic Memory, and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. The Southern Literary Journal, 43 (2), 55-74. 

Emanuel, L. L., Solomon, S., Fitchett, G., Chochinov, H., Handzo, G., Schoppee, T., & Wikie, D. (n.d.). Fostering Existential Maturity to Manage Terror in a Pandemic. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 

Lombardi, R. (2020). Corona Virus, Social Distancing and the Body in Psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 455-482. 

Schimmenti, A., Billieux, J., Starcevic, V. (2020). The four horsemen of fear: An integrated model of understanding fear experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 17 (2), 41-45.

Svenson, K. (2020). Teleanalytic therapy in the era of COVID-19: Dissociation in the countertransference. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 447–454. 

Zerbe, K. J. (2020). Pandemic fatigue: Facing the body’s inexorable demands in the time of COVID-19. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 475–478.

This Wednesday Evening Lecture will be virtual, using Zoom. Please register for more information on how to attend.

1.5 Continuing Education Credits

In this program, Dr. Levit will provide an overview of Somatic Experiencing (SE), which is a non-psychoanalytic, bio-psychological model developed for treating PTSD.  He will then present clinical vignettes to illustrate interweaving SE into psychoanalytic work in order to enhance psychoanalytic holding.  He will discuss original Winnicottian meanings of holding, and their relationship to the concept of containing.  He will make the case that, while psychoanalytic therapy offers powerful forms of containment for highly traumatized and dissociative patients, it has generally failed to provide a specific and essential form of holding.  This relative deficit has contributed to contemporary interest among many psychoanalytic practitioners in looking toward a variety of other modalities and practices (EMDR, neurofeedback, somatic therapies such as SE, etc.).

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain specific meanings of the psychoanalytic concept of Holding, as originally defined by D. W. Winnicott.
2. Name the innate human responses to threat, as spelled out in Stephen Porges’ theory.
3. Describe a therapeutic intervention based on Somatic Experiencing and how it can enhance Holding in the psychoanalytic therapy with a patient who has history of trauma and manifest severe dissociative states.

David Levit, Ph.D., ABPP is a Diplomate in Psychoanalysis and in Clinical Psychology. He is a Fellow at the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis and a Fellow at the American Academy of Clinical Psychology. He is an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner).  His current faculty positions are: Faculty and Supervising Analyst, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis (MIP); Co-founder, Co-chair, and Faculty, MIP Postgraduate Fellowship Program-West; Instructor in Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Adjunct Instructor in Psychiatry, Tufts Medical School. His office is in Amherst, MA where he has been in private practice since 1989. He provides individual therapy and psychoanalysis for adults and consultation for colleagues.

REFERENCES
Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., and Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(3), 304-312.

Levine, P. A., (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Levit, D. (2018). Somatic Experiencing: In the realms of trauma and dissociation – What we can do, when what we do, is really not good enough. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(5), 586-601.

Levit, D. (2018). Continuing the dialogue between psychoanalysis and Somatic Experiencing: Reply to Bass, Leddick, Levine, Blakeslee, Sylvae, and Lombardi. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28(5), 640-645.

Ogden, T. H. (2004). On holding and containing, being and dreaming. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85, 1,349-1,364.

Rappoport, E. (2015). Dynamic linking of psyche and soma: Somatic Experiencing and embodied mentalization. In J Bresler and K. Starr (Eds.). Relational psychoanalysis and psychotherapy integration: An evolving synergy. New York: Routledge, pp. 136-158.