“Dreams help us to work collaboratively with our patients and can be a path to a deeper understanding of waking life. The deciphering of dream images and stories from dreams help us to better understand a patient's inner world. In clinical work, dreams may be a part of paving the way to change. This workshop will help clinicians to appreciate, elicit and work with dreams. Participants will: 1) understand dreams as an expression of the primary process, 2) be introduced to the concept of dreams as a wish fulfillment, as well some other aspects of the dream work, and functions of dreams, and 3) have an opportunity to discuss dream material, and how to use dreams clinically.”

Source/ Event Link: Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

“After Freud, Michel Foucault was the most important 20th century figure in shaping our current understanding of human sexuality. In this three-hour course, we will study his The History of Sexuality (1976 – 84).

In the first volume of this work, he argues – contra Freud - that sexuality must be understood as a social and historical construct, rather than an extra-social phenomenon of ‘biological drives’. We will explore his account of the emergence at the end of the 19th century of our contemporary experience of ‘sexuality’ – highlighting the role he sees psychoanalysis as playing in this process.

We will review the debate over his thesis that ‘homosexuality’ (and ‘heterosexuality’) are specific to contemporary Western culture, and explore his analysis (in the later volumes) of the very different experience of ‘sexuality’ that he finds in his studies of the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.”

Source/ Event Link: Freud Museum London

“In Gestalt theory, an introject is a belief or norm unconsciously absorbed from our environment without being fully assimilated. Participants will briefly examine how gender assigned at birth can become an introjected construct—a heteronormative expectation imposed by caregivers and society—which may conflict with an individual’s authentic gender identity.

Through theoretical framing and focused experiential exercises, participants will reflect on how these introjects can lead to internal conflicts such as feelings of incongruence or self-negation when one’s true self does not align with assigned labels. Emphasizing Gestalt principles such as contact at the boundary, awareness, and organismic self-regulation, this session will briefly introduce an affirmative therapeutic approach to working with gender diversity.”

Source/ Event Link: Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles

“Different psychoanalytic models express their philosophies of humankind and its development in metaphors. This interactive seminar will introduce the attendees to Fairbairn’s metaphor of the human psyche. Fairbairn’s model belongs to a group of relational models that see the child’s early experiences with his mother/caregiver as critical to his development and wellbeing. Fairbairn saw structuralization of the psyche as a consequence of real interactions with external objects that are either growth enhancing, or frustrating of the child’s normal and legitimate needs."

• Source/ Event Link: Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

“Stockholm Syndrome is often referred to in the lingua franca, yet a deeper understanding of this issue can be elusive. This workshop will elucidate the history of and theory behind this commonly misunderstood phenomenon. How Stockholm syndrome typically presents in mental health practitioners’ work will be outlined and examined. Additionally, the intersection of Stockholm Syndrome and Abusive Traumatic Bonding ( ATB), child abuse, and domestic violence will be examined. Case studies will be provided and tools on how to apply the lessons presented in the webinar will be given. The workshop will be a dynamic combination of concrete instruction, powerful examples from literature and practice, and active discussion. The experience of refugees in the light of Stockholm Syndrome will also be examined.”

Source/ Event Link: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center

“Join Mark L. Ruffalo, M.S.W., D.Psain an exploration of the psychodynamic theory and treatment of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Participants will gain an understanding of the psychodynamic mechanisms underlying NPD, including problems in the individual's sense of self and other. Strategies for the theoretically-informed and compassionate treatment of patients with NPD will be presented.”

Source/ Event Link: Hudson Valley Professional Development

“We will attempt to read this documentary as a narrative representation of the imaginative world of the home’s occupants, returning to cyclical memories of loss, thwarted ambition, and an aching desire for security and love. We will also focus on the ways in which humor and intimacy create opportunities to both connect with and wound others. Participants will additionally be invited to link these observations and insights to their own work with patients contending with overly fused relationships, attempts at individuation, decay, and the precarity of the lifespan.”

Source/ Event Link: New Orleans - Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center

“Dreams bring us back into contact with that original imagery. They send us into an immersive virtual world, a seemingly mind-independent "reality," in which the stories behind our ordinary language -- ancient, cultural and personal -- take concrete shape around an active protagonist adapting to a metaphoric world generated by their own mind. By acting within these condensed fictional parables, we are able to evolve the narrative schemas or storylines behind our current problems in living.”

Source/ Event Link: San Diego Psychoanalytic Center

“Can the existing English translation by James Strachey of Freud’s Psychological Works be salvaged and updated, or is a completely fresh start called for? This is the question that confronted Mark Solms, the editor of the Revised Standard Edition, when he began his massive task thirty years ago. In this presentation, he will provide the answer that he came to, and explain why. This will entail an interesting consideration of the widespread accusation that Strachey ‘falsely scientized’ Freud. The talk will also entail a birds-eye overview of the many ways in which the Revised Standard Edition differs from the old one.”

Source/ Event Link: Freud Foundation U.S. and New York University

“What do psychoanalysts and actors have in common? Both are always listening for something to emerge — a character coming to life, a story taking shape, a feeling taking form.  But what happens when we direct this form of listening toward one another? Following  the recent publication of her essay, “Listening Into Being” (in Psychoanalytic Inquiry), Emmy-nominated film and television actress Robin Weigert (Deadwood, Big Little Lies) will join us at SFCP to discuss profound resonances  between the actor’s and the analyst’s practices of listening.”

Source/ Event Link: San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis

“Building on this foundation, the talk examines how Lacan’s later works from the 1960s and 1970s—particularly his ideas on the fundamental non-rapport structuring mental life—further refine our understanding of psychotic experiences. Particular attention will be given to the role of creativity and invention in overcoming psychotic crises.”

• Location: Virtual

• Source: William Alanson White Institute

Although Freud doubted that psychotic patients could benefit from psychoanalysis, he acknowledged that “suitable changes” in his method might “succeed in overcoming this contra indication.” From a variety of perspectives, the four speakers in this conversation explore how a focus on the embodiment of madness represents a change in method that has brought about remarkable advances in the field.

• Location: Virtual

• Source: Newport Psychoanalytic Institute

Attendees will explore Philip Bromberg’s paper, “Treating Patients with Symptoms- and Symptoms with Patience: Reflections on Shame, Dissociation, and Eating Disorders”. Bromberg’s theory is that the therapist’s task is to allow themselves to slowly discover the patient’s multiplicity of self-states and the existing gap between the states.

• Location: Virtual

• Source: New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute

In this lecture, Judith A. Yanof will be addressing the topic of identifying childhood trauma. Recognizing childhood trauma can be particularly difficult when it is not a known part of the patient’s history. Often childhood trauma and the aftereffect of dissociation are not recognized in adults, and, as it turns out, more often, not recognized in children. 

Location: Virtual

Source: Gestalt Therapy Institute Los Angeles

We are thrilled to invite you to join us on this rare opportunity! Lynne Jacobs, Gary Yontef and Rich Hycner are worldwide recognized for advocating the importance of emphasizing relationality and dialogue as part of Gestalt Therapy’s principles.

• Location: Virtual

• Source: Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies

Wilfred Bion produced original psychoanalytic theories and insights.  His ideas are rooted in classical analytic theory while being distinctly discontinuous from it.  The discontinuity, I conjecture, came from his contact with an Indian ayah (nursemaid) during the first nine years of his life when he lived in Mathura, India. The unconscious is both dynamic/private and cultural/social.