THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TRAINING INSTITUTE OF THE CONTEMPORARY FREUDIAN SOCIETY
“Infidelity as Manic Defense” Shelley Nathans, PhD
Discussants: Mary Morgan and Francis Grier
Friday, June 19, 2015, 8:00-10:00pm
The paths leading to infidelity in a couple’s relationship are manifold and diverse; there is no singular cause, no simple, linear route. Using a contemporary Kleinian framework, Shelley Nathans, Ph.D. will present her paper “Infidelity as Manic Defense”, in which she describes some of the important theoretical issues relevant to understanding affairs. The main focus of this paper is on the problems that one or both of the partners in a couple may have with mourning past or impending loss, and the consequent infidelity that may result from a manic attempt to replace depression or psychic pain with excitement. A developmental orientation will be used to delineate a range of psychological dilemmas that contribute to infidelity, including claustrophobic anxieties, difficulties with mourning past or impending loss, Oedipal problems and separation issues. Mary Morgan and Francis Grier, of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, London, UK will discuss Dr. Nathan’s paper.
Shelley Nathans, PhD is a clinical psychologist in private practice in both San Francisco and Oakland, California and is a member of the teaching faculties of the California Pacific Medical Center and the Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Group training program. She has completed the Tavistock Center for Couple Relations Advanced Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Couples, is a member of the British Society of Couple Psychotherapists and Counselors, is on the International Advisory Board for the Journal, Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, and is on the Board of Section VIII, Division 39 (the section for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for Couples and Families of the American Psychoanalytic Association). She is the director and producer of the film, Robert Wallerstein: 65 Years at the Center of Psychoanalysis, and she is co-editor of the forthcoming book, Couples on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy.
Mary Morgan is a Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Psychoanalyst and Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. At the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships she is Head of the MA in Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and the Professional Doctorate in Couple Psychotherapy. She has a particular interest in the psychoanalytic understanding of couple relationships and the technique of couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy, about which she has published many papers. She is a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association’s Psychoanalytic Perspectives of Families and Couples Working Group which is studying similarities and differences in couple psychoanalytic theory and technique. She has been invited to develop and lead couple psychotherapy trainings in several countries, lectures internationally, and has worked for many years closely with colleagues in Sweden and the USA.
Francis Grier is a Training Analyst and Supervisor of the British Psychoanalytical Society and a Member of the Society of Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists. He edited Brief Encounters with Couples: Some Analytical Perspectives (2001, Karnac), and Oedipus and the Couple, (2005, Karnac) as part of the Tavistock Clinic Series, as well as several other papers, including, “Lively and deathly intercourse”, in Sex, Attachment and Couple Psychotherapy: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, ed. C. Clulow (2009, Karnac). His paper, “Thoughts on Rigoletto”, was published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 2011, and a new paper, “La Traviata and Oedipus” has been accepted for publication by the IJP. He has contributed chapters entitled “The hidden traumas of the young boarding school child as seen through the lens of adult couple therapy” for Enduring Trauma through the Life-Cycle ed. E. McGinley and A. Varchevker, and “Psychotic and depressive processes in couple functioning” for Living on the border, ed. D. Bell and A. Novakovic, both published by Karnac Books in 2013.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to understand and describe how infidelity may be understood across the developmental spectrum.
Participants will be able to understand and describe how manic defenses function in couple dynamics and how infidelity may be a manifestation of difficulties with mourning.
Participants will also be able to name two types of triangulations that may occur unconsciously in couples that may complicate both the couple’s dynamics and the countertransference.
Continuing Education Credits:
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 evaluation form. It is the responsibility of the participants seeking CE credits to comply with these requirements. Upon completion of this program and evaluation form, and payment for CE credits, participants will be granted 2 CE credits.
Location:
Mt. Sinai Medical Center
Hatch Auditorium
Madison Ave @ 100th Street, NYC
Admission Fees:
$75 Non-CFS Members
$65 CFS Members
$30 Candidates and Students
CE Credit Fee: $75 CFS Members and Non-Members
$50 Candidates and Students
If you have any questions, please contact Vivian Eskin (veskinphd@gmail.com)
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NY Cont Ed Program – 6/19/15
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