The act of writing down one's thoughts in publishable form can be a daunting, frustrating experience for some clinicians who have interesting ideas but feel hampered by their own insecurities and resistances. Others have little difficulty expressing themselves in written form but may feel intimidated by the process of generating original ideas within the body of psychoanalytic knowledge. An innovative program, New Directions in Psychoanalytic Thinking, has been developed by Robert Winer and Sharon Alperovitz to address the specific needs of psychoanalytic writers by helping them to develop both as critical thinkers and as good writers.
Sponsored by the Washington Psychoanalytic Foundation, New Directions offers its students an in-depth exploration of contemporary ideas at nine weekend conferences, held in Washington, D.C., over the course of three years. Conference topics include memory, the impact of siblings, gender and treatment, trauma, new perspectives on treating gay men and lesbian women, the theory of the mind, termination, and evil. Each student has the option of working with a writing consultant, selected from a roster that includes many major thinkers in the world of psychoanalysis. Students can develop their written products further with the help of university writing professors at an optional week-long summer retreat. Coming from different parts of the country and a variety of disciplines, participants enter the program in September of each year. Most of the current participants are about to complete their first two years.
We share with you our experiences of this unique endeavor from the standpoint of a member of the faculty (Beatrice) and a participant in the program (Sylvia).
I have thought, more than once, that if Winer hadn't asked me to become involved with New Directions as a member of the steering committee and faculty, I probably would have signed up as a student. I'm not the only one. One of the benefits of being on the faculty is the opportunity to hear stimulating speakers talk about topics that interest them and to think about writing with a highly motivated, well-educated group of people. When Suzi Naiburg, a writing coach and Harvard educator, led the audience in a fast-paced exercise intended to stimulate ideas for writing, I noticed Vamik Volkan and Ernie Wallwork — both writing group leaders and authors of several published books — scribbling furiously to get down new thoughts about their next books.
I have noticed what appears to be a reciprocal energy flow between the students and faculty. Generally, after one of these conferences, I feel both exhausted and fully energized, not just by the speakers but also by the enthusiasm of the students, who don't hesitate to challenge and question. Perhaps a program like this, designed to help people express through the written word their own thinking about psychoanalytic ideas, would naturally attract people who are creative, highly motivated, and independent minded. Winer came up with the idea for New Directions after noticing that many analysts with very good minds seem inhibited about writing and publishing. “Many people,” he observed, “don't appreciate that they have an idea that could be developed into an article or book. There was no place for them to share and support each other in writing. I thought it would be useful for people toget together to talk about writing.”
A patient of mine once told me a Buddhist saying: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” That's what I feel happened when the brochure for New Directions crossed my desk. I had graduated from analytic training about eight years earlier (not quite the proverbial ten years it takes to recover, as Nina Coltart has written) and had begun to feel hungry for further professional stimulation. I had begun to read the newer relational journal, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and found the clinical discussions especially helpful.
I was drawn to the stated goal of the New Directions program: to create a dialogue between analysts who adhere to divergent technical and theoretical viewpoints, to challenge what may be outmoded, and to stimulate original thinking. I was dazzled by the list of writing consultants from around the world. The idea that a participant in the program could select someone from a list of such illustrious colleagues to consult with and be guided by in the writing of a publishable paper by the end of the three-year program seemed to me like an exciting privilege. And the fact that the list crossed over into many, if not all, the various analytic schools seemed to underscore the program's commitment to a broader viewpoint than the one I had been exposed to during my training. The structure of the program was attractive as well. A three-day weekend, three times a year, seemed like a manageable time commitment in my already overbooked schedule. And the lineup of speakers was impressive, including Harold Blum, Carol Gilligan, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, and Jay Greenberg.
In addition to its promise of rich intellectual and intercollegial stimulation, I was particularly drawn to the idea of the program helping one to become a writer. I had been struggling for some time with a thwarted desire to express my thoughts on paper. Besides the perennial issue of juggling private practice without neglecting home and family, I had been forced to confront that I was also dealing with a significant inhibition. The message I read into the brochure was, “You are not alone in your struggle to become a psychoanalytic writer; come and meet other like-minded souls and you will feel part of a special group.”
So far, the experience has exceeded even my most optimistic expectations. The tone set by Winer and Alperovitz is both warmly welcoming and absolutely professional. The meetings seem very well planned and organized. I particularly appreciate the alternation between large groups, where papers are presented formally, and small groups for discussion and more spontaneous group process. This seems to foster a more “pro-active” mindset, which in turn engenders a sense of personal generativity (at least for me), since so many of the hours I spend in my office consist of listening and trying to make sense of my patients' words, in what feels like an essentially reactive stance.
As I had already found myself drawn to Winnicott's and Bion's ideas, it has been great to feel “contained” in the group Winer and Alperovitz have created. They are committed to an egalitarian approach that eschews a guild mentality. In the New Directions classes, there seems to be a greater freedom to voice opinions and share clinical vignettes than I had experienced at my institute, perhaps because we are not competing for the same pool of patients or for academic advancement in a given hierarchy. I feel fortunate to be participating in the program and am thrilled with the caliber of the participants. I think we all share an eagerness for personal and intellectual growth and an openness to learning new ideas and re-thinking older ones.
For further information about New Directions, please write to New Directions, Washington Psychoanalytic Foundation, 4925 MacArthur Blvd., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007, or call 202-298-6637.
Sylvia E. Flescher, M.D., and Beatrice W. Smirnow, Ph.D., are analysts in private practice in Ridgewood, N.J., and Alexandria, Va., respectively. Smirnow is an associate instructor at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.