A conference “On Madness”, organized by the Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups and the St. Louis Lacan Study Group – an affiliate of the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Society – will be held October 5-7, 2012, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Starting from Freud’s observation that the symptoms of psychosis are not the problem but the attempt at a solution for the psychotic, psychoanalysis has taken a position very much at odds with the psychiatric emphasis on symptom-reduction and clinically-defined behavioral norms in work with the psychotic patient. With the growth of symptom-based diagnosis and treatment in modern psychiatry, this distinction has only become more stark.
Years ago, Jacques Lacan urged psychoanalysts, “Do not give up on the psychotic!” His charge was not only that the analyst help the psychotic, but that he learn from the psychotic, as well.
Speakers will include Darian Leader, author most recently of “What is Madness?” (Hamish Hamilton, 2011), Stijn Vanheule, author of “The Subject of Psychosis: A Lacanian Perspective” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), Russell Grigg, author of “Lacan, Language and Philosophy” (SUNY, 2009) and translator of Lacan, Patricia Gherovici, author of “Please Select Your Gender” (Routledge, 2009), Dany Nobus and several others. The conference will engage the question of what madness is and what can be the role of psychoanalysis in its conceptualization and treatment.
Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups is an association of clinicians, scholars and others who have an interest in the work of Freud and Lacan. Membership is open to anyone who shares these interests.
To receive registration information for the conference, go to tuche.org/apw/. To receive emails about the conference as more details become available, you may sign up for the email list at tuche.org.
Continuing education credit will be available for social workers, M.D.s and psychologists.
Todd Dean
St. Louis