When Marvin Margolis was president of this organization some years ago, he envisioned that one day our program would be as vibrant as a three-ring circus. Each ring would house something exciting, informative, provocative, even foreign, to contemplate. After looking at the upcoming program, no one can doubt that we have accomplished his goal. If anything, our program is an embarrassment of riches that forces us to make choices among many stimulating experiences. The richness of our current program is due in large measure to the efforts of Glen Gabbard, chair, and the rest of the hardworking program committee.
On Wednesday and Thursday, in addition to our many ongoing discussion groups, we are fortunate to begin the meetings with two different two-day clinical workshops in process and technique, featuring Peter Fonagy from London and Jorge Canestri from Rome. The presence on the program of two major child sessions, the two-day workshops led by Ruth Karush from New York and Cal Narcisi from Denver, represent a new effort to include programs on child and adolescent analysis. In addition, Fred Pine will chair what appears to be an extremely interesting course on multiple models as unified theory.
A Friday afternoon highlight, not to be missed, is the Third Annual Poster Session showcasing research relevant to theory and practice of psychoanalysis.
On Friday the panels begin placing the audience right in the middle of the current clinical debate with “Do Analysts Do What They Say They Do?” There will be many of us wishing we could be in two places at once, because at the same time, we could listen to another timely presentation, the “Meet the Author” series, featuring Gilbert Cole, who has written Infecting the Treatment: Being an HIV-Positive Analyst. Later that day, Anton Kris will challenge us with his plenary entitled, “The Lure of Hypocrisy.”
Saturday morning, we again have to choose from two equally inviting offerings:“ Revenge” and “How Psychoanalysts Think about Children: The Analysis of an Adopted Child.” In the afternoon, we have a panel on shame and humiliation which meets opposite a psychoanalytic dialogue, “The Love Debate,” featuring Ethel Person and Otto Kernberg.
The concept of revenge will be dramatized during a two-day film workshop featuring Carrie and In the Bedroom.
If you take a look at our program, you will see an increasing commitment to psychoanalysis in the community.
Here are some symposia and other programs that might interest you: 'Terrorism: Looking Toward Conflict Resolution: A Conversation with Lord John Alderdice, Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly“ ”Psychoanalysis and Spirituality,“ ”Expanding Our Psychoanalytic Identity: 111 Lessons from Case Studies of Community Psychoanalysis,“ ”Bridging Worlds: Contributions of Attachment and Reflective Functioning to our Understanding of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy,“ ”Promoting Emotional Competence and Academic Achievement: Psychoanalysts and Educators Working Together.“
And more: “Capturing the Friedmans: A Conversation with Director Andrew Jarecki,” “Psychoanalysis without Walls: Interventions in Violent Communities,” “Psychoanalysis and the Opera: A Conversation with Soprano Shirley Verrett,” and “In-Depth: Art, Culture, and Politics—The Legacy of Bloomsbury.”
We finish our meeting on Sunday with a timely panel entitled “Have Non-Psychoanalytic Sciences Affected Your Practice?” In another room at the same time, an interdisciplinary colloquium on “Psychoanalysis and Literary Criticism” will be occurring. In the afternoon, a second interdisciplinary seminar, “The Clinical Applications of Self-Psychology—the Neurosciences,” will finish our official program.
Sharon Zalusky, Ph.D., is faculty, Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, a member of the APsaA Program Committee, and a member of the TAP board.
Throughout the meeting, there will be special programs for psychiatric residents and psychology and social work students. They include; 1) “Working Within and With the Patient Metaphor,” 2) “Whose Trauma is it?: Countertransference with the Traumatized Patient,” 3) “Intensifying Psychotherapy,” and 4) “Contemporary Kleinian vs. Attachment Theory: Two Perspectives on a Case Presentation.”
Special programs will also be presented during the week for candidates and affiliate members.
And though it may be difficult to believe, there will be additional papers, a course on ethics, meetings, and discussions going on all around you.
Come. Enjoy. Partake.
See you in New York.