NY Spring Project: “The Dark Side of the Womb: Depression and Persecutory Disturbances in Pregnancy and Early Parenting” One-Session Program (2 Contact Hours), Presenter: Professor Joan Raphael-Leff Date: Sunday, February 19, 2017 Time: 10:00am-12:30pm Location: Mt. Sinai, Goldwurm Auditorium, Madison Ave @ 98th St., NYC
This seminar will concentrate on the first 1000 days (from conception to two years). A model of parental orientations will be presented to explore the diverse range of subjective responses to the bizarre experience of two-in-one-body; and the complex feelings in face-to-face daily co-existence when an intimate beloved can rapidly turn into a persecutory stranger. We will focus on healthy ambivalence – a medley of familiarity and alterity, altruism and antagonism, both within one’s self, and in dialogue with the unknowable Other. But also on areas of ‘darkness’ in the minds of expectant parents and new mothers and fathers – sparked by the intense emotional experiences of pregnancy, birth and caregiving.
Intra-psychic and inter-personal processes are primed by the baby’s temperament, and by the carer’s unconscious representations of this infant as similar and/or different to self and fantasied baby. I argue that some parents, become vulnerable to disturbance when the exhausting demands of gestation/babycare fail to replicate their fantasies. And their own unprocessed infantile issues are contagiously aroused through engagement with the baby’s preverbal emotions and exposure to evocative primal substances (poop, pee, breastmilk, etc).
However, with good support, the experience of parenting can also be an enriching source of transformative change as new capacities emerge and opportunities arise to rework old grievances.
Professor Joan Raphael-Leff is both a Psychoanalyst (Fellow, British Psychoanalytical Society) and Transcultural Psychologist. She leads the Academic Faculty for Psychoanalytic Research at the Anna Freud Centre, London. In 1998 she founded COWAP, the International Psychoanalytic Association’s committee on Women & Psycho-analysis. Previously was Director of the MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology at University College London, and Professor of Psychoanalysis at Essex University, UK.
For 45 years she specialised clinically and researched issues of Reproduction and Early Parenting and her writings (150+ single authored peer-reviewed publications and 12 books) have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, Flemish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish. Now retired, she acts as advisor to multicultural perinatal infant mental health and women’s projects, and primary health workers on six continents.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this program participants will be able to:
1. Describe healthy ambivalence as it relates to pregnancy and early parenting
2. Explain the concept of ‘contagious arousal’
3. Describe perinatal disturbances
Continuing Education Contact Hours:
Social Workers: The Psychoanalytic Training Institute of the Contemporary Freudian Society SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0087. CE credits are granted to participants with documented attendance of the entire program and completed online evaluation form. No partial credits will be offered. It is the responsibility of the participants seeking CE credits to comply with these requirements. Upon completion of this program and online evaluation form, participants will be granted 2.5 CE credits.
Who Should Attend:
The instructional level for this activity is advanced. Mental Health Professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, e.g. LPs, LCATs, and pastoral counselors) and those with an interest in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking and clinical applications.
Important Disclosure Information:
The planners for this activity have indicated that they have no relevant relationships to disclose.
Program Fee:
Free to Spring Project volunteers (you must register)
$40 for CFS Members, Candidates and SP volunteers requiring CEs
$50 for Non-CFS Members & Candidates (includes CEs)
No refunds
If you have any questions, please contact Connie Stroboulis at connies3@aol.com or 212-752-7883.
NY CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM
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CFS NY Spring Proj 2/19/17
11 Bunker Hill Drive
Manalapan, NJ 07726