NYFS-DC Scientific Program
Friday, June 3, 2011
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Jane Fox Reading Room, Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD
Admission is free and no reservations are required.
The Rules of Disengagement:
Brain and Mind in the Analytic Treatment of
Children and Adults with Asperger’s Syndrome
Michael L. Krass, PhD, presenter
Griffin Doyle, PhD, discussant
This presentation will include the ways that the person with Asperger’s syndrome embodies a highly complex interaction between deficit and conflict, nature and nurture, brain and mind. This paper will present both neurological and analytic evidence that the pathogenesis of autistic spectrum disorders derives from the interplay between neurological and unconscious factors. It will be shown that a number of Winnicott’s theories, including his understanding of the way the infant progresses from relating to to using the object, of the holding environment and of transitional experience, have particular relevance for understanding the ways that the neurological deficits seen in Asperger’s syndrome interfere and interact with unconscious processes essential for emotional and cognitive development.
The presentation will include case material from the analysis of a woman with Asperger’s, and the analytic play therapy with a latency-aged boy with Asperger’s, to demonstrate technical approaches that integrate an appreciation for the neurological basis of the patient’s perceptual, cognitive and social difficulties with an understanding of unconscious fantasy, the process of internalizing parenting objects, compromise formation development and the role of defenses. In addition, the paper will illustrate the ways all sorts of internal and external traumas and conflicts related to the neurological deficits particular to Asperger’s syndrome play out in the transference/ counter-transference field in work with patients with Asperger’s. I will look at this duality in the context of transference feelings and fantasies that arise with these patients, and of countertransference, particularly as it arises in the face of seemingly impenetrable protective mechanisms.
Michael L. Krass, PhD, received his PhD in clinical psychology at the Derner Institute at Adelphi University, and his Masters in developmental psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, an assistant clinical professor for clinical psychology at George Washington University, and an adjunct professor at Argosy University. He is a member of the New York Freudian Society, and has taught at the Psychoanalytic Training Institute of NYFS in Washington. He currently has a private practice in Falls Church, VA of adult psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, child and adolescent psychotherapy, personality assessment and clinical supervision. He received the NYFS Plumsock Prize in 2005 for his paper, “Fear and Loathing on the Couch: the Intersection of Managed Care and Masochism.”
Griffin Doyle, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Bethesda, MD, treating children of all ages, adolescents, adults and couples. His chief concentration and expertise lies in the assessment and intervention of developmentally delayed, regulatory and autism spectrum disordered children and their families. Dr. Doyle is a senior faculty member of the DIR Training Institute and the ICDL Doctoral Programs. In addition, he is a core faculty member and past Co-Chair of the Infant Mental Health Postgraduate Seminar Program at the Washington School of Psychiatry. He is clinical consultant to the treatment team at the Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative (York University, Toronto, Canada) studying the effectiveness of DIR intervention with autism spectrum disordered children and their families.
This program is designed to help you:
1. Recognize the complexity of the interplay between neurological deficits associated with Asperger’s and psychological development as it is facilitated by unconscious communications between infant and mothering object.
2. Identify the ways that these neurological deficits could be expected to alter these unconscious communications.
3. Integrate information about neurological development in Asperger’s with analytic knowledge about the unconscious components of early development.
4. Apply this new understanding of the complex nature of the pathogenesis of Asperger’s to analytic treatment of adults and children.
Who Should Attend:
Mental Health Professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed therapists, such as LP’s, LCAT’s, LMHC’s, pastoral counselors), and people with an interest in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking and clinical applications.
APA-approved CE Credits and Registration Fees:
There is no fee for attending this program. However, the New York Freudian Society in co-sponsorship with The Washington School of Psychiatry will offer continuing education credits to physicians (CMEs) and psychologists, social workers, and licensed professional counselors (CEUs) for a fee of $10 per credit hour. The total credit hours for this meeting are 2 hours. These continuing education credits are granted to participants with documented attendance and completed evaluation forms.
Important disclosure information:
None of the planners and presenters of this CE program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Shelley Rockwell, PhD at srockwell33@aol.com
The Psychoanalytic Training Institute of NYFS offers a variety of programs in both New York City and Washington, DC for students interested in adult psychoanalysis, child/adolescent psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and parent-infant treatment. All Masters-level professionals are welcome to apply. Please visit instituteofnyfs.org for further information.