YORK PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIETY & INSTITUTE:
ACADEMIC RESEARCH/
REFERENTIAL PROCESS SEMINAR
Marianne and Nicholas Young Auditorium
247 East 82nd St., between 2nd & 3rd, NY, NY 10028
212-879-6900
www.psychoanalysis.org
www.nypsi.org
Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 8 p.m.
Comparing Repression & Dissociation: A Theoretical & Clinical Discussion
Frances Sommer Anderson, Wilma Bucci, Richard Gottlieb, Leon Hoffman
Free and open to the public
RSVP HERE, nypsi.org or 212.879.6900
To what extent and in what ways are the constructs of repression and dissociation conceptually different? What are the implications of focusing on format of representation (subsymbolic, symbolic) rather than level of awareness (unconscious, conscious) as a basic explanatory dimension? What are the differences among the theoretical perspectives from which these constructs arise: e.g., conflict theory (classical psychoanalysis); interpersonal and relational psychoanalysis; basic theory and research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? To what extent do clinicians who assume different theoretical perspectives work differently?
Richard Gottlieb will selectively review the history of both concepts as deployed by psychoanalysis, beginning with the early contributions of Freud (and Breuer, 1894/5) and Pierre Janet (1889), through the eclipse of Janet’s views in mainstream psychoanalysis and their stunning reappearance in the 1970’s. During this period adaptations of Janet’s views became increasingly fundamental to certain relational/interpersonal points of view. Leon Hoffman will discuss how conflict and compromise formation theory is a useful way of organizing the sources of a patient’s psychological dysfunctions as they are expressed in the consulting room. This theory implies that there are wishes (drive derivatives) that are more or less unacceptable (provoke unpleasant emotions/affects) and need to be kept out of consciousness by the utilization of defenses (implicit affect regulation mechanisms), the most basic of which is repression. This approach assumes a normative state of self-integration. Wilma Bucci will present a contrasting view of the self as inherently characterized by dissociation among multiple modes of being and experiencing, and a view of the treatment process that focuses on connecting systems of representation through the referential process rather than undoing repression as a basis for therapeutic change. Anderson will talk about the application of this theoretical perspective clinically, focusing on treatment of patients with chronic pain.
Frances Sommer Anderson, Ph.D., psychoanalyst and licensed psychologist, is certified as a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner(SEP). She is editor of Bodies in Treatment: The Unspoken Dimension; co-author with Eric Sherman of Pathways to Pain Relief; and co-editor with Lewis Aron of Relational Perspectives on the Body.
Wilma Bucci, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita, Derner Institute, Adelphi University; Co-Chair, Committee on Research Education, American Psychoanalytic Association; Honorary Member of APsaA, NYPSI, and IPTAR; author of Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science and many other publications.
Richard M. Gottlieb, M.D. is Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He authored the prize-winning paper “Psychosomatic Medicine: the Divergent legacies of Freud and Janet” published in 2003 in JAPA.
Leon Hoffman, M.D. is TA and Co-Chair Pacella Research Center at NYPSI and Co-Chair, Committee on Research Education at APsaA. Recent publications include Manual of regulation-focused psychotherapy for children (RFP-C) with externalizing behaviors: A psychodynamic approach, Co-author, Timothy Rice, with Tracy Prout.
NO CME OR CE CREDITS WILL BE OFFERED.
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