Scientific Meetings
Mission Statement
As an outreach educational arm of the New Center for Psychoanalysis, Extension Division offers educational programs - classes, lectures, seminars, case discussions, film series, and more - intended to augment clinical skills for mental health professionals and to enhance understanding of psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Consistent with the mission of the New Center, the Extension Division courses cover the range of psychoanalytic perspectives and are offered in a spirit of open inquiry. Its courses are taught with an emphasis on an interactive educational approach.
Wright Institute Los Angeles Alumni Association and the New Center for Psychoanalysis present
In Treatment:
Clinical Issues From A Psychoanalytic Perspective
HBO’s acclaimed show In Treatment allows viewers to follow the lives of a therapist, four of his patients, and the therapist’s supervisor. Using segments of this popular TVseries as a starting point, this conference explores clinical issues that are key to the therapeutic process: resistance, erotic transference/countertransference and the therapeutic frame. Three outstanding psychoanalysts share their insights as to clinical issues that can serve to hone your skills and enhance your understanding of your patients.
The Frame: Albert Mason, MB, MS
Boundaries and borders frame every aspect of our lives. When excessive envy or terror in a patient obliterates those boundaries and borders, the dissolution of the structures of reality occurs. The attacks the patient makes on the frame afford us a view of the patient’s hatred of reality and his/her wish to enforce their own delusional state instead.
Resistance: Helen Desmond, Ph.D.
Resistance is a process concept, whether it is used in reference to the interaction between the therapist and patient or in the broader sense as an “unconscious psychological force” which works against a patient’s wish for growth. Rather than viewing resistance as an obstacle to treatment, we shall consider the value in attending to what the resistance is for, e.g. what is the protective function of the resistance?
The Erotic Transference: Peter Wolson, Ph.D.
Boundary crossing in the erotic transference-countertransference enactment as portrayed in the case of Laura will be examined in the context of the relationally determined therapeutic frame.
Course Objectives
• Define the frame and its profound relevance to therapeutic work
• Discuss the therapeutic frame from a relational perspective
• Assess the underlying dynamics of erotic transference-countertransference enactments
• Recognize resistance as an unconscious communication and utilize techniques for working with resistance
Presenters
Albert Mason, MB, BS, Psy.D., is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New Center for Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Center of California. Dr. Mason is the author of numerous papers based on Melanie Klein’s work and is a recognized teacher/lecturer both nationally and internationally. He is a past member of the House of Delegates of the International Psychoanalytic Society and is in private practice in Beverly Hills.
Helen Desmond, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst and faculty member at the New Center for Psychoanalysis and a former president of the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She is on the clinical faculty at UCLA and in private practice inWest Los Angeles.
Peter Wolson, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst and is on the faculty of the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS). He is Past-President and former Director of Training of LAISPS, on the Resident Faculty of the Wright Institute Los Angeles, and a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He has a private practice in Beverly Hills and has published articles on adaptive grandiosity, the existential dimension of psychoanalysis, and psychoanalytically informed op-ed pieces for the Los Angeles Times and Counterpunch.
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Time: 9 AM–1:30 PM
Place: New Center for Psychoanalysis
CE/CME Credits: 4
Fee: $100 Pre-registration
$110 at the door
$ 50 students, clinical associates, interns and residents
Continental Breakfast and Mid-Morning Refreshments will be served.