Virtual online communities and architectural concepts are not often associated with psychoanalytic endeavors, but two grant proposals that received funding from the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Committee (APF) literally broke new ground this year.
Since 1994, the APF has provided financial support to a variety of projects that promote psychoanalysis as a framework for understanding individual behavior and cultural phenomena. One of this year's grants incorporates psychoanalytic thought with 21st century technologies while the other explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and the architectural perspectives of form, space, and structure.
The first grant, awarded to THRIVE Let's Talk, will help fund the creation of a virtual online community, Emotional Neonatal Intensive Care (ENIC), to connect parents of premature infants with professional resources and with one another. This will include an eBook, podcasts, and blogging space. When completed, the Let's Talk App can be downloaded on an iPhone, iPad, Android smart phones, and iPod touch.
Let's Talk is an expansion of THRIVE, established in Los Angeles in 2007 and sponsored, in part, by the New Center for Psychoanalysis. THRIVE developed out of the realization that premature parents often feel traumatized, helpless, and isolated when confronting the intensive medical needs of their fragile infants. In addition to assisting premature parents in attaching to their babies within the confines of the NICU, the program educates NICU nursing staff and collects observational data for future research in the emotional capacities of premature and micro-preemie infants.
The second grant was awarded to the publication of a special volume of “CENTER: A Journal for Architecture in America.” The special volume, entitled “The CENTER: Space + Mind Publication,” includes 10 original research essays by a multidisciplinary group of authors: professors and practitioners of architecture, art, history, sociology, political psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Established in 1985, the journal is one of the nation's premier series of accessible, topical, scholarly writing on architecture.
This special issue of “CENTER” examines potential parallels, connections, and common concerns between architecture and psychoanalysis. It arises from the Space+Mind conference held in April 2007 at the Austin School of Architecture at the University of Texas, under the sponsorship of the Center for American Architecture and Design. The conference explored a range of topics from the constructed, physical environment and the internal workings of the mind to the reflection of space and self in childhood and the design of spaces for maximum psychotherapeutic benefit. The Center for American Architecture and Design and the Graham Foundation are also contributing financial support.
These two projects show psychoanalysis's capacity to meet the needs of an under-served community and to integrate psychoanalytic thinking in new and creative ways.
“We appreciate the continuing generosity of our donors,” says Sandra Walker, chair of the APF Committee and faculty member of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute and Society. Walker adds, “APsaA received nearly $25,000 in donations this year from members and friends to support timely and innovative projects. The committee takes great care in selecting projects that further public awareness of the value of psychoanalytic thought and its applications. And we hope that all APsaA members will support the work of the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Committee by adding a contribution to the foundation on their 2012 APsaA dues invoice.”
Linda Benson, M.A., a Foundation Committee member, is a freelance writer on health and medicine for national publications and Web sites. She lives in Ann Arbor and is a lecturer in composition and writing at Wayne State University in Detroit.