There's a lot going on in the world of psychoanalysis, in the world at large, and in Boston, the site of the APsaA spring meetings (June 18–22, 2003.) Art and our digital culture, terrorism, immigration, and autism are some of the compelling topics that will be addressed at the meeting. Many luminaries will be there including Theodore Shapiro, the plenary speaker, who will tell us how to “Use Your Words” after an introduction by Arnold Cooper in the plenary session, chaired by Newell Fischer
In the latest program of the “Meet the Author” series, chaired by Nadia Ramzy, Salman Akhtar will present ideas from his book Immigration and Identity: Turmoil, Treatment and Transformation. The book will be discussed by Anna Ornstein and Dwarakanath G. Rao.
In a panel on terrorism, “Does Psychoanalysis Have Anything to Offer an Understanding of Terrorism?”, Akhtar, Peter Fonagy, Jerrold Post, and Vamik D. Volkan, will address this urgent social issue of our time. Stuart Twemlow is the panel chair.
Autism in children, a contemporary mental health epidemic, will be the featured topic of a workshop of the Committee on Psychoanalysis in the Community. “Psychoanalysis Confronts Autistic Children: Some Remarkable Results” will be chaired by Gilbert W. Kliman. Community outreach efforts, an important endeavor of APsaA, is the featured topic of two symposia. Twemlow, Sallye M. Wilkinson, Richard P. Fox, and Leon Hoffman will present “Expanding Our Psychoanalytic Identity II: Lessons from a Case Study of a Community Intervention by Community Psychoanalysts.” Sarah Birss, Ann R. Epstein, James M. Herzog, Mark O'Connell, Judith A. Yanof, Marylynn Boris, and Maida J. Greenberg will present “Four Programs of Applied Psychoanalysis in Boston: The Training and Education of Parents, Day Care Providers, and Mental Health Clinicians.”
There are several special programs for psychiatric residents, psychology and social work students, which address a fascinating array of clinical issues: “Understanding Countertransference Responses to Patients Who Self-Mutilate,” “Working with Erotic Transference,” “Listening to Adults with Children in Mind,” and “Intensive Psychotherapy with Severely Disturbed Patients.”
Programs designed to address issues of personal and professional importance to APsaA members will be addressed in a symposium, “Revitalizing the APsaA from the Inside Out,” and a special program for mid-career analysts.
Issues related to femininity and psychoanalysis will be featured in a paper presentation and a panel. The runner-up for the 2002 Affiliate Council Scientific Paper Prize, “Transforming Feminine Categories: Genealogies of Virginity and Sainthood,” will be presented by Susan Stiritz and Britt-Marie Schiller. The third panel of the meeting, “The Changing Language of Female Development: A Case Study in the Relationship of Theory to Language,” will feature Rosemary H. Balsam, Dianne Elise, Bonnie E. Litowitz, and Henri Parens. Nancy Kulish will chair this panel.
Paul E. Roberts will be the senior analyst presenter in a two-part program chaired by David V. Orbison. There will be two days of clinical workshops in “Process And Technique.” Workshop 1, coordinated by Henry F. Smith, will feature Harold J. Steiger as presenter and Michael Feldman as chair Workshop 2 will be chaired by Robert Michels with Charles R. Morgan as presenter; series coordinator is Irene Cairo.
Contemporary psychoanalytic theoretical issues and controversies are featured in several programs. A panel discussing “What Is the Role of Conflict in Contemporary Clinical Work?” includes Jay Greenberg, Otto F. Kernberg, and Joseph D. Lichtenberg; Henry F. Smith will chair “Clinical Applications of Self Psychology and the Neurosciences” is the featured topic in the interdisciplinary seminar chaired by Jerome S. Beigler The Research Seminar; sponsored by the Fellowship Committee, will offer a session chaired by Timothy F. Dugan: “Cultural Identification and Disidentification: The Case of the United States South.” Leigh Anne Duck and Joshua Guthman will present, with Vamik D. Volkan discussing. A psychoanalytic course on “Motivational Systems, Technique, and Communication in Psychoanalysis” will be chaired by Lichtenberg.
Those interested in art and psychoanalysis can look forward to photographer Shellburne Thurber's presentation “Memory and Material Space: Analytic and Other Interiors in Photographs by Shellburne Thurber” at an “In Depth” session chaired by Daniel H. Jacobs with Michael Belldoch and Lia Gangitano as dicussants. The compelling documentary film Into the Arms of Strangers will be discussed by Rita V. Frankiel in a two-session film workshop on childhood bereavement, co-chaired by Ruth S. Fischer and Bruce H. Sklarew. Techno-sociologist Sherry Turkle will present a seminar, “Whither Psychoanalysis in Digital Culture?”, which will be chaired by Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer.
The final program will list even more topics sure to excite you about the upcoming meetings in Boston. The city, famous for its universities, ballpark, art museums, and harbor also offers wonderful restaurants, theater, and outdoor site-seeing as we convene during the first weekend of summer, the summer solstice.
Enjoying this historic city, your colleagues and friends, and the compelling program as spring turns into summer will ensure a rich and delightful weekend. Hope to see you there!