The program of the Winter 2005 Meeting, January 19-23, is filled with opportunities to learn more about the latest research findings in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapies, to enhance clinical practice and to improve patient care through attendance at psychoanalytic courses, workshops, or special symposia. It is an opportunity to talk with colleagues at all levels and from the full range of theoretical persuasions extant in the field today.
In keeping with the organization's commitment to bringing analytic ideas to the wider world, Lord John Alderdice, Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a psychiatrist, will be with us again for a symposium titled, “Understanding Terrorism and What We Can Do About It.” The University Forum, which was developed to encourage dialogue between academia and psychoanalysis, will be chaired by Kim Leary. Forum speakers Thomas Keenan, director of the Human Rights Project and associate professor of comparative literature at Bard College, and psychoanalyst Donald Moss will discuss “An Academic-Psychoanalytic Exchange on Terror and Torture.” Other events featuring psychoanalysis and the community include helping children to cope with their fears of terror sparked by nightly newscasts and world events, learning about resilience in Bosnian youth after the war, and applying analytic ideas to aid international relations.
Applied psychoanalysis will also take center stage by offerings that address the arts. Richard Kogan, a psychoanalytically-trained psychiatrist and concert pianist, will meld the spoken word with music in his psychobiographical study of “Tchaikovsky: Music and Melancholy.” And a two-session film workshop will pay homage to the work of Ingmar Bergman.
Given the desire of most clinicians to also know more about how recent discoveries of genomics and the brain will influence our work, Bruce Wexler, a professor of psychiatry from Yale and an expert in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has been invited. He will present a special seminar on “Neuro-plasticity over the Life Span: How People Can and Can't Change,” which will be chaired by Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer. A special panel on “Gene-Environment Interactions: Developmental and Psychotherapeutic Implications” will include Regina Pally, Glen Gabbard, and Stephen Suomi.
The Meet-the-Author segment will feature Antonio Ferro, speaking about his recently translated book, In the Analyst's Consulting Room.
The plenary address by Newell Fischer on the topic of “A Fear of Trying,” and a plenary presentation by Arnold Richards on “The Creation and Social Transmission of Psychoanalytic Knowledge,” plus panels on masculinity and failed analyses promise engaging glimpses into the contemporary consulting room and psychoanalytic classroom.
Two-day workshops and panels will tackle some of the special issues of children, particularly those with biological and developmental disorders. Other two-day workshops will deal specifically with process and technique issues unique to adult analyses and psychodynamic psychotherapies. The In-Depth segment, “Art, Culture, and Politics: The Power of the Picture Book and the Inner World of the Child,” will be chaired by Judith Kantrowitz, and Sheldon Roth will chair an Interdisciplinary Seminar on “Dreams and Their Use in Psychotherapy.”
These featured offerings will be complemented by a considerable array of workshops and discussion groups. As in past years, there will be special courses on ethics and on media training for the psychoanalyst.
We encourage students from all mental health disciplines to come and to take part in the entire program, and to be aware that there are special courses, discussions, and social events arranged with them particularly in mind.
The Program Committee is hopeful that this diverse series of events will appeal to a wide audience of clinicians, researchers, and educators and inspire new ideas for workshops, discussion groups, and panels for future meetings.
Kathryn J. Zerbe, M.D., is professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, vice chair for psychotherapy, director of Outpatient Services, Department of Psychiatry, director of behavioral medicine, Center for Women's Health, Oregon Health Sciences University; and training and supervising analyst, Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute.