Current psychoanalytic controversies will be discussed in various formats throughout the Scientific Program at the December meeting in New York. An all-day panel will focus on controversial issues related to transference. Part A, Current Conceptions of Transference and Their Technical Implications, will be chaired by Sydney E. Pulver on Saturday morning. Confidential precirculated material prepared by presenter Estelle Shane will be available to be read in the panel room from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. To preserve confidentiality, the material must not leave the room. The ensuing panel will feature three separate discussions of Dr. Shane's material. The formal discussants will be Newell Fischer, Irwin Z. Hoffman, and Arnold Rothstein. In the afternoon, Part B of the panel will consider controversies regarding transference neurosis and will again involve confidential precirculated material, which will be available to be read in the panel room from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The afternoon presenter is Owen Renik, and the three discussants are Arnold M. Cooper, Arnold H. Modell, and Gail S. Reed. Erik Gann will serve as reporter for the all-day panel.
Another central controversy in the field is the relative importance of intrapsychic fantasy versus real experience in the pathogenesis of neurosis. A second panel, entitled On the Shaping Influence of Experience, will examine how the real environment of the patient contributes to the compromise formations observed in the psychoanalytic process and how analytic technique must take these factors into account. The panel will be chaired by Sander M. Abend and will feature two case presentations by Owen Renik and Michael S. Porder. Robert Michels and Vann Spruiell will serve as discussants, and Paula Bernstein will be the reporter.
Given the ubiquity of daydreams, it is striking how little has been discussed about their significance in psychoanalytic practice. Harold P. Blum will chair a third panel, entitled The Daydream in Clinical Psychoanalysis. Presentations will be made by Marianne Goldberger, Peter B. Neubauer, and David L. Raphling. Ronald M. Benson will serve as discussant and Jane V. Kite as reporter. As always, the fourth panel is the Classics Revisited format, this time featuring discussions of On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis, by Hans Loewald. Gerald I. Fogel will serve as both chair and discussant, and presenters will be Jay Greenberg, James T. McLaughlin, and Phyllis Tyson. Ellen R. Peyser will be the reporter.
Few controversies in the history of psychoanalysis have been more bitter or intense than those occurring in the British Society during World War II. The Meet-the-Author format will feature The Freud-Klein Controversies: 1941-1945, the landmark work by Pearl H.M. King and Ricardo Steiner. Robert L. Tyson will chair the session, and the book will be discussed by Francis D. Baudry and Roy Schafer. The traditional debate format known as Psychoanalytic Dialogues will focus on competing conceptions of motivation and will be chaired by Donald Meyers. Presenting two
different views in the dialogue will be Jay Greenberg and Joseph D. Lichtenberg.
Two distinguished analysts will be giving plenary presentations at the December meeting. John E. Gedo will make an address entitled “Working Through: Metaphor and Therapeutic Modality,” while Howard Shevrin's is entitled “Is Psychoanalysis One Science, Two Science, or No Science at All? A Discourse Among Friendly Antagonists.” Melvin Bornstein will chair a Seminar for Psychoanalysts, “Neurology of Memory,” in which the presenters will be Adele Diamond and Dan Schacter.
The three movies featured in the Film Series will revolve around a common theme: The Phallic Woman in the Contemporary American Cinema. Glen Gabbard will chair the series, and Bruce Sklarew will co-chair. On Thursday evening Basic Instinct will be shown and discussed by Glen Gabbard and Krin Gabbard. On Friday afternoon The Hand that Rocks the Cradle will be shown and discussed by Lucy Fischer. Aliens will conclude the series on Saturday and will be discussed by Ilsa Bick.
Because they have been well received, two relatively new formats will be continued at the December meeting. The Psychoanalytic Courses segment of the program will feature Otto F. Kernberg on Modification of Psychoanalytic Technique with Severe Personality Disorders. The Program for Spouses features The Art of Lucien Freud. Donald Kuspit will be the presenter, and the session will be chaired by Alvin Frank. There will also be a two-day Clinical Workshop chaired by Joseph D. Lichtenberg entitled Affects: Following the Golden Thread in Clinical Exchange. Henry F. Smith will coordinate a two-day masters series Clinical Workshop in process and technique that will be chaired by Leo Stone.
The Seminars for Trainees have recently been redesigned to include clinical presentations by residents involved with the American Psychoanalytic Association Fellows Program. This format was extremely popular at the San Francisco meeting last May and will be continued at the December meeting. While the presenters have not yet been selected, the topics and faculty are as follows: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy of Eating Disorders, with Kathryn Zerbe; Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Homosexual Men: Clinical and Developmental Issues, with Richard Isay; The Use of Dreams in Psychotherapy, with Alfred Margulies; and The Child and His/Her Environment: Analysis and Advocacy, with Donald Cohen.
The usual assortment of discussion groups will be offered on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Suggestions for the program are welcomed by program chair Arnold Rothstein.