Program Committee Report

This has been another productive and satisfying year for the NCSPP Program Committee, as we have had the honor of bringing some important voices, both new and familiar, to the NCSPP community.

The year began with the Spring Scientific Meeting featuring Stephen Ducat's paper, “Anxious Masculinity, from the Voting Booth to the Consulting Room: Feminine Terrors in the Male Unconscious.” Dr. Ducat and his discussant, Dianne Elise, wove psychoanalytic ideas together with gender, politics (and humor) to help illuminate the difficulty that many men, and the culture at large, have embracing the feminine in their selves and their relationships.

In June, we were proud to present the 2004 Student Paper Award to Amy Bandera for her paper, “Hysteria and the Transformational Spectrum,” which is published in this issue of fort da. Dr. Bandera's fresh ideas on hysteria and the capacity to think were discussed by Lee Rather. The exceptional quality of Dr. Bandera's work is a testament to the aims of the Student Paper Award, and we were pleased to provide her with a platform to bring these ideas to a larger audience.

The Program Committee's “signature” event — the 18th Annual Event and Lecture — featured Juliet Mitchell, who joined us from the UK. Her talk on “Psychoanalysis, Siblings, and the Problem of the Group” enriched our developing understanding of this complex and fascinating topic, and Professor Mitchell's expansive thinking was a pleasure to behold. Vivian Dent's thorough clinical presentation helped to flesh out the theoretical material.

As always, the aforementioned events could not have been presented without the enthusiastic efforts of the members of the Program Committee. I'd like to thank Carolina Bacchi, Anca Ivan, Elissa Meryl, Marty Mulkey, Deanna Reardon, Jessica Selvin, and Susanna Wyatt for making my stewardship of this committee for the last two years such a satisfying and rewarding task.