In This Issue
Letter from the President
Letter from the Director of Training
Letter from the Candidate President
EBOR 2012 Review
Regional and International News
Since You Asked...
NPS Society News
NPS Institute News
Members is Action
Quick Links
Selected Facts
Newsletter of the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society
October 2012
Greetings!

Caron Harrang

If you read our inaugural issue in May 2012, let me say, "Welcome back." And to new readers, we hope you find the fall issue interesting and useful in keeping up to date on our goings on at Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society. As regular features, we have letters from the President, Director of Training, and Candidate President, along with committee reports from the NPS Society and Institute. I want to thank outgoing President Judy K Eekhoff, for her years of service and welcome David Jachim in this, his first letter to the community as our new President beginning in July.

 

This issue features a review of the just concluded Ninth International Evolving British Object Relations Conference held in Seattle this past month by candidate reporter Lynn Cunningham. Special thanks, again, to Judy K Eekhoff for chairing the conference committee and for the unique way this professional event contributes to our awareness of what is changing and to new psychoanalytic theory from a British Object Relations perspective. And, related to international news, we want our readers to be aware of the upcoming International Psychoanalytical Association Congress in Prague.

 

As usual, we are also pleased to present news related to the professional accomplishments of our individual candidate, analyst, and community members in a section we call "Members In Action." This month features announcements regarding several members, including Jeffrey Eaton, Maxine Nelson, Marian Evans, and myself.

 

In this issue, we initiate a section we call "Since You Asked...," detailing the back-story of the group photo at the 6th Congress of the IPA in 1920 that we use in the portion of the newsletter devoted to regional and international news. We received so many inquiries about the photo (and the only known photo of Freud and Klein together) that Daniel Benveniste-who drew attention to the image in the first place-graciously offered to do some "investigative reporting" and contributed an essay we think you'll find quite interesting.

 

If you have questions or comments about the articles we publish or, if you are a member with an idea for a story or want to join the newsletter staff, please write to me here. Also, feel free to forward the newsletter to individual colleagues who may not be on our mailing list. Forwarding directions are at the bottom of every issue. Selected Facts is published three times annually, in the spring (June), fall (October), and winter (February).

 

Caron Harrang, LICSW FIPA

Managing Editor

Letter from the President

David Jachim

As fall advances, many people are securing their windows and insulating their doors in anticipation of the months of inclement weather. Not so with NPS. Beginning with the Ninth Annual International Evolving British Object Relations Conference (EBOR) held in early September, NPS has opened its doors to another year rich in learning opportunities. Many thanks to our EBOR plenary presenters-Richard Rusbridger from the United Kingdom, Gisela Klinkwort from Germany, and Michael Paul from California-for their enriching presentations. Special thanks to Judy Eekhoff (chair) and the EBOR planning committee, small group paper presenters, and so many others who contributed to making our conference experience a resounding success.

 

But we're not stopping there. NPS has begun its academic year in analytic training, including classes with visiting analyst Neville Symington this past month. Also this fall, psychotherapy courses are beginning with an Infant Observation class especially designed for psychotherapsits and an offering entitled "Treating Trauma Survivors Psychoanalytically." We have also launched our monthly Scientific Meetings Series (October 17th) beginning with community member Adriana Prengler, LMHC FIPA, presenting on "Dreams & Symptoms-Royal Roads to the Unconscious." And this is just for this fall! There will be many more gems that will be uncovered in the upcoming months.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that NPS is accepting applications to our psychoanalytic training program to begin in September 2013. This program is designed to provide intense, dual-track (didactic and clinical) exposure to British Object Relations and leads to full accreditation as an analyst, sanctioned by the International Psychoanalytical Association. This program, quite frankly, is a most remarkable opportunity to develop the clinical skill to work at the deepest levels of the human psyche. Application materials and contact information can be found on our website at www.nps.us.com.

 

There are several other ways to become involved with NPS as well. You might consider becoming a member or community member of NPS. Both categories of membership offer access to a variety of professional development opportunities. Applications for both types of membership can also be found on our website.

 

The NPS Board of Directors is growing and looking forward to expanding NPS into the future with a strategic planning retreat slated for this November. One item on our agenda is the application to the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education for accreditation. This accreditation will position us in good stead when national licensure for analysts becomes available. We will be tackling several other challenges as so many other Societies and Institutes do in these times. Nevertheless, I am encouraged enough by the energy and talent of our Directors, Faculty, Training and Supervising Analysts, candidates, and administrative staff to confidently say, "The best is yet to come!"

 

David Jachim, PhD FIPA

President, Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society 

Letter from the Director of Training

Maxine Anderson

It is a pleasure to help coordinate the various aspects of training in psychoanalysis and courses in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at NPS. While I have been involved in psychoanalytic training for perhaps two decades in various ways, my current efforts as Director of Training at NPS aim to help the various committees involved in psychoanalytic training and ongoing development (such as Admissions, Progression, Curriculum, Candidate concerns, Faculty Development, Training Analysts, Outreach). Offering a container for these various concerns also means offering the space and opportunity for mutual discussion and for learning from each other. Maintaining an atmosphere of ongoing inquiry and learning is an important aspect of training and growth for all of us at NPS.

 

Maxine Anderson, MD FIPA

Director of Training

Letter from the Candidate President

Julie Hendrickson The chill in the morning and evening air, the leaves turning from green to yellow, red, or orange, the later dawn and earlier dusk-all these signs of fall evoke the nostalgia of going back to school. For the candidates at NPS, it's not just nostalgic, it's the "here and now" of returning to our Friday afternoon training seminars.

 

This year, not only is change in the air due to the season changing from summer to fall, change has also been occurring for NPS. This year, as the candidates came back together to learn, study, and discuss, we came instead to the new NPS home in the Belltown neighborhood. Another change took place during our first week back when we had the fortunate opportunity to observe psychoanalysts Richard Rusbridger and Michael Paul work with clinical material presented by two of the candidates, as the kickoff to EBOR.

 

Speaking of EBOR, I was happy to be in attendance at the gathering during lunch on Saturday when candidates and those interested in psychoanalytic training gathered to talk with recent NPS graduates about what it means to apply for and enter psychoanalytic training. The event provided a collegial space for those interested in psychoanalytic training, and for those already in training, to ask questions, speak about their experience, and openly share information. The enthusiasm and interest expressed at that gathering was inspiring.

 

Another change that has taken place this year for the candidates is that we now have, in addition to myself as the candidate president, a president-elect, Nicole Wiggins. Nicole will assist me in the leadership of the candidate group this academic year in preparation for taking over the reins as president beginning in September 2013. I also want to recognize Maxine Nelson as past candidate president, for her service of two years from 2009 to 2010, as she continues to contribute to the candidate group with her experience. I believe the presence of past, present, and future leadership within the candidate group provides a sturdy container and frame for each of us throughout our training as well as a sense of cohesion during the sometimes turbulent and vulnerable experience of learning.

 

I am happy to answer any questions about psychoanalytic training or to provide more information about the NPS candidate experience. You may contact me at 206.527.3081.

 

Julie Hendrickson, MA LMHC

Candidate President

EBOR 2012 Review

    

 

Lynn Cunningham, Reporter

 

After-Thoughts

 

Lynn Cunningham

As a candidate, one of the benefits of  

participating on the EBOR 2012 planning committee was the opportunity to engage with invited speakers prior to the conference. Through the trading of emails, just to confirm details, I began to anticipate the pleasure of new acquaintances and the stimulation of innovative arguments that would stretch my current thinking. When we gathered together on Friday evening, I scanned the crowd, searching for the individual speakers, but particularly the two speakers whose presentations I would facilitate. In that instant, when faces were joined with names, I had a sense that new connections were being made.

 

On Saturday afternoon, sensing a communal expectation of another serving at this intellectual buffet, I opened the session by recounting a recent personal experience apropos to the present circumstance:

 

"A couple of days ago, I was walking through the Malpensa airport in Milano. Carved into the expanse of the floor, in a subtle manner, without attribution or flourish, were these words:

 

All of the steps you have taken up to now  

have brought you to this place today."

 

As we listen to these two creative and thought-provoking papers, we may wonder about how our unconscious will make use of this chance encounter... that which brings us to this place and time today.

 

In the paper session I facilitated, the two presenters were Katherine Mac Vicar, MD FIPA, and Dianne Elise, PhD FIPA. Of course, each author approached the topic of the Oedipal differently, contributing to the great pleasure we take in individuality of views. Both presenters stimulated a lively discussion that, sadly, had to be brought to a too-abrupt end, my sole role as facilitator. Days later, I sent the following email to my speakers; the subject line was "After thoughts":

 

As a candidate, I reap huge benefits from the multiple days of listening to experienced analysts like you, and I reflect on the presentations on my own and with my colleagues for months and even years. Thank you for coming to Seattle to be with us; I hope you will decide to come again. Although I can't guarantee such fine weather next time, I will try my best. 

 

The response from Dianne Elise was not only charming but also gave us at NPS the encouragement to repeat the EBOR conference to continue to offer the camaraderie and learning possibilities of an intimate setting.

 

Dear Lynn,

 

Hi there, and thank you very much for your note. It makes a big difference to me as a speaker to hear from the program Conference Organizing Committee after giving a presentation. And yes, I did have a very nice time at the conference and in re-visiting Seattle after 30 years. On Sunday I went down to the Space Needle plaza, where I had been at the World's Fair with my family exactly 50 years ago!! It was also a lot of fun to see it out the window of my room. The Pan Pacific was a beautiful hotel to stay at for those of us out-of-towners, and it is so helpful to have a conference right where one is staying; it was a lovely setting for a conference.

 

I thought you did a very good job of managing and moderating our panel session; thank you for that. And it's good to be reminded of the benefit to candidates and local members of these presentations. I do know from speaking around the country that many locales have very limited professional offerings. And certainly object relations theory is all but absent from anywhere except our west coast. The intellectual/clinical level of the EBOR conference would be hard to find anywhere else except in SF and LA. So you're fortunate that in your relatively small locale you have access to such a rich clinical tradition.

 

And finally, it was such a welcoming, warm gesture to have that colorful little goodie bag and card delivered to my room right as I arrived. In all the decades of professional speaking that I have done, even as the sole speaker or on a small panel, no one has ever done anything like that before. It created such a nice feeling.

 

Warm wishes,

Dianne

 

Because we used up our allotted discussion time, I was unable to end the meeting with my planned script. Now I have a second chance.

 

"The name Malpensa, which means "bad thought" in Italian, comes from the small village where the airport is located. To my mind, the name contradicts the truism embedded in the brief thought offered to travelers as they pass through the terminal. Although our steps seem serendipitous at times, when we unite chance with attention, as we have done today, we take irony beyond its simplistic form, and say something different from, not merely contrary to, the surface notion...something we hope will alter our self-awareness and lead us toward a perceptible change in self-consciousness. Thank you for this opportunity to think together and to learn something new."

 

We at NPS look forward to our next opportunity to come together to share our individual thoughts and ideas and kindle some new ones.

 

Dianne Elise, PhD FIPA, is a Training and Supervising psychoanalyst and faculty member of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California. PINC is a component society of the International Psychoanalytical Association. 

 

Katherine Mac Vicar, MD FIPA, is a Training and Supervising psychoanalyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, which is a component society of the IPA.

 

Lynn Cunningham, LICSW, is a candidate at Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and a member of the Publications Committee.

Regional and International News

Freud et al

6th International Psychoanalytical Association Congress, 1920, Hague, Holland.  

Front row, left to right: 3) Anna Freud, 6) Sandor Ferenczi. 12) Karl Abraham.  

Row two: 3) Ernest Jone, 5) Ernst Simmel, 7) Oskar Pfister, 8) Sigmund Freud, 9) Otto Rank, 11) Melanie Klein, 13) Theodor Reik. Row three: 5) (behind Simmel) Philip Sarasin, 9) (behind Rank) J.H.W. vanOphuijsen. Last row: 8) Max Eitingon, 9) Paul Federn, 12) Carl Muller-Braunschweig (?). 

  

IPA 48th Congress
Hilton Prague, Czech Republic
July 31 to August 3, 2013

"Facing the Pain: Clinical Experience and the Development of Psychoanalytic Knowledge"

About the Congress: Analyst and patient alike face psychic pain in the clinical experience. How do such encounters in the consulting room inform the ways we develop psychoanalytic theory and, on a more fundamental level, the very groundwork of our knowledge? In addition, cultural and societal factors-such as the global economic crisis, political repression, and upheaval-influence our patients and our selves and affect our clinical work. This Congress will focus on how the psychoanalytic process is gradually transformed from the analyst's initial and inchoate conceptualizations to more coherent and polished theories that can be communicated and possibly investigated by empirical methods.

Read more here.
Since You Asked... 

Following our inaugural issue, many of you expressed interest in the photo (shown above) of the IPA Congress in 1920. We chose it for the section of our newsletter on regional and international news, as it is the only known image of both Freud and Klein. In response, NPS Community Member Daniel Benveniste, PhD, graciously submitted the following essay on the history of this remarkable image:

 

"Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein: You Get the Picture"

 

One branch of the psychoanalytic tree is that of Melanie Klein's object relations theory and technique. While Klein's ideas were looked upon kindly by Freud's close associates Karl Abraham, Sandor Ferenczi, and Ernest Jones, Freud himself had his reservations about them but was also somewhat open-minded and felt he had "no right to any fixed conviction."

 

While Freud and Klein had no significant direct contact, there were a few opportunities when the two may have met. And, as far as I know, there is only one photograph in which the two are seen together. It is a group photo at the 6th Congress of the International Psychoanalytical Association in The Hague.

 

Read more here.  

 

Daniel Benveniste, PhD, is a psychologist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Bellevue. Daniel is a Community Member of the NPS Publications Committee with a strong interest in the history of psychoanalysis.

NPS Society News

 

EBOR 2012 Committee - Judy K EekhoffJudy Eekhoff   

 Mirta Berman-Oelsner

Lynn Cunningham 

Judy K Eekhoff (Chair)

Caron Harrang

Michele Meola

Maxine Nelson

Robert Oelsner

Christopher Owen

David Parnes

Rikki Ricard

Barb Sewell

Nicole Wiggins

 

Please see the review of this year's EBOR conference (above) for a report on this most distinctive special event. The committee extends special thanks to Christopher Owen, who functioned as operations manager throughout the conference, and to Claudette Cummings, Lucrecia Devine, Patrick Nalbone, and Naoko Oguchi, who performed various administrative functions that contributed to the good experience for our plenary presenters, paper presenters, and attendees.

 

Outreach Committee - Dana Blue   Dana Blue

 

Margaret Bergmann-Ness

Dana Blue (Chair)

Caron Harrang

Julie Hendrickson

Maxine Nelson

Barbara Sewell

 

The Outreach Committee has been busy with the previously established tasks of in-reach and outreach. In-reach efforts in the past few months have involved recognition of NPS volunteers with flower bouquets at the Annual Meeting in July. Outreach endeavors have included solicitation of community memberships and meeting with those interested in psychoanalytic training during the 2012 EBOR conference. Outreach committee members are also participating in the development of courses for psychotherapists with a basis in British Object Relations. Read more about these new developments in the news from the Education Committee below.

 

One special form of outreach is the continual effort made by our members to offer teaching and training in forums on every level: local, national, and international. Examples of these events include Maxine Anderson's presentation at the inaugural SPSI Scientific Meeting in September, Maxine Nelson's discussion of the film Laura as part of the Images of Women Conference in October (see article below in Members in Action), Dana Blue's participation on a panel presentation about the Alliance Community Psychotherapy Clinic at the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education conference in Portland in November, and Shierry Nicholson's course on French Psychoanalysis for members of the Alliance. Additionally, several of our analyst members, including Jeff Eaton, Robert Oelsner and Mirta Bermann-Oelsner, Maxine Anderson, and Marianne Robinson are also involved in training and teaching at the national and international levels. We celebrate all of these efforts to bring a British Object Relations sensibility to the wider community. 

 

Finally, as of November, Dana Blue will be stepping down as Chair of Outreach. Caron Harrang will take over from Dana and hope to build on the good work she did as the inaugural Chair of this important committee. 

 

Publications Committee - David Jachim 

 

Daniel Benveniste

Lynn Cunningham

Caron Harrang

David Jachim (Chair)

Maxine Nelson

Steve Shehorn

 

The Publications Committee continues to keep you up to date on NPS events, member activities, and training opportunities via our website (www.nps.us.com) and our newsletter Selected Facts. In this issue of our newsletter, you will find special coverage of the Ninth Annual International Evolving British Object Relations Conference (EBOR) held in early September. At that conference, I was happy to host the first CIPS/NPS Book Party, featuring works by Maxine Anderson (NPS Director of Training) and Caron Harrang (Selected Facts Managing Editor). Their papers were included in the book entitled Absolute Truth and Unbearable Psychic Pain, published by Karnac (2012). The book party was a complete success as all copies available at the conference were sold. I look forward to many more book parties to come.

 

If you would like to see works of writing by other NPS members, you can check the "News & Media" tab on our website and select "Associations: Psychoanalytic Essays." If you are interested in the arts, you might consider submitting a paper, essay, or poem to be published in our website section "Aprčs Coup: Psychoanalysis in the Arts." For that matter, check out all of the sections on our website to stay abreast of the wide array of NPS news and offerings, including analytic training, psychoanalytic psychotherapy classes, and Scientific Meetings.

 

Relocation Committee - Dana Blue & Caron Harrang

 

Dana Blue (Co-chair)

Judy K Eekhoff

Caron Harrang (Co-chair)

David Jachim

 

With its July 2012 move, the NPS Relocation Committee has accomplished a longstanding goal! NPS is now housed in a new location in Belltown; furnishings have been procured and installed; our administrator, Naoko Oguchi, has a workstation, and the new space has become the center of organizational activity, hosting meetings, holding classes, and providing a base of support for all NPS goings-on. The relocation committee consisted of Dana Blue (Co-Chair), Judy K Eekhoff, Caron Harrang (Co-Chair), and David Jachim, who gave countless hours, muscle, and aesthetic effort to the project.

 

In addition, a number of individual members and Seattle area businesses donated generously to the NPS relocation project. Individual contributors include Dana Blue, Caron Harrang, David Jachim, and Rikki Ricard. Business donations or discounts came from The Framery and VPI, both located in Belltown.

 

The Framery is an custom photography and fine art framing business located on Fourth Avenue between Vine and Wall (206.443.3806). Owner Francisco Smith has been providing his customers with skilled personal service since 1996. After doing a beautiful job framing the photograph of Melanie Klein, he offered to reframe a smaller photo of Anna Freud as a donation to the organization. Francisco says, "I'm more than happy to donate our time and experience to NPS as we have in the past to other non-profits' worthy causes. Thanks for being our customer."

 

VPI (www.vpirep.com) represents multiple commercial manufacturers of furniture used in corporate, healthcare, hospitality, and education settings. Although VPI usually works with organizations much larger than NPS (think Boeing and Microsoft), they made an exception in our case, wanting to lend a hand to a non-profit with an educational and humanitarian mission. Product representative Mike McFarlane and corporate administrator Trina Adams bent over backwards to help us find furnishings that would fit our budget, including offering prices normally unavailable to retail customers for new chairs, counter-height tables, file cabinet, and white board.

 

Scientific Meetings - Jeffrey Eaton Jeff Eaton

 

Scientific Meetings feature original paper presentations, or classical psychoanalytic papers chosen for their relevance to contemporary psychoanalytic understanding, presented by our psychoanalyst members and provide a venue for discussion and debate of evolving psychoanalytic theory and its application in clinical practice. Scientific meetings are open to members of the Society and other mental health professionals (including graduate students in medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, and other mental health disciplines) interested in learning more about psychoanalysis, generally, and the British Object Relations approach, in particular. For those who may be considering advanced training in psychoanalysis, these meetings provide an excellent way of getting to know our analyst members, most of whom also teach in the Institute. For more information about meetings scheduled for the 2012-13 academic year click here.

NPS Institute News

 

The Education Committee consists of committee chairs from Admissions, Curriculum, Faculty Development, Outreach, and Training Analysts. The Director of Training chairs the EC and is head of the NPS Institute. The first report below pertains to the EC as a whole. Subsequent reports are from each of the subcommittees.

 

Education Committee - Maxine Anderson        

 

Maxine Anderson (Chair & Director of Training)

Dana Blue (Dean of Students & Outreach)

Adrian Jarreau (Admissions)

Esti Karson (Faculty Development)

Mirta Berman-Oelsner (Training Analysts)

David Rasmussen (Curriculum)

 

The NPS Education Committee begins the academic year with many projects underway. Continuing improvements to the analytic training curriculum include a new process for the development of course binders and continued efforts toward faculty support and development. Communication is maintained between candidates and the Institute by means of monthly meetings of the Dean of Students with the Candidate President, meetings as desired between the Education Community and the candidate group, and the inclusion of candidates in every area of the organization, including the recent establishment of a candidate position on the NPS board. These efforts are designed to provide mentorship to our candidates with the acknowledgement that they are leaders-in-training as well as future psychoanalysts.

 

NPS is now accepting applications for our next candidate class. Anyone with an interest in training to become an internationally certified psychoanalyst in the Northwest's only program focused on British Object Relations is encouraged to contact Director of Training Maxine Anderson.

 

In other news, psychoanalytically informed course offerings for psychotherapists are organically emerging from our dedicated faculty. Judy Eekhoff has put together a course entitled "Treating Trauma Survivors Psychoanalytically" to begin in October; Maxine Anderson and Dana Blue will offer a short course on dream-work in the spring; and, for the first time, NPS will be offering Infant Observation derived from the Tavistock model to the wider community of therapists. Several sections of the course are scheduled to begin over this academic year. Faculty includes Dana Blue, Judy Eekhoff, Caron Harrang, Rikki Ricard, Marianne Robinson, and Tom Saunders, with Maxine Anderson providing oversight for the development of this new component of psychoanalytic psychotherapy training. Dana Blue and Caron Harrang will offer a free two-session seminar in October entitled "Why Infant Observation?" to orient prospective students.

 

As an added boost for those considering analytic training, students who successfully complete Infant Observation prior to applying to the Institute may request to have this course satisfy a key requirement of the full analytic training.

 

With the support of the board, NPS has elected to begin the process of certification with the American Consortium for Psychoanalytic Education. This is great news for future candidates, as certification by the consortium will allow participation in federally funded student loan programs, helping to defray the costs of training.  

 

Admissions Committee - Adrian Jarreau

Adrian Jarreau   

 

Adrian Jarreau (Chair)

 

News from Admissions is that a new class in psychoanalytic training oriented to British Object Relations is now forming. Currently, NPS has one accepted applicant, and another application is being processed.

 

For additional information about the requirements of training to become an internationally certified psychoanalyst click here. Anyone interested in discussing the application process is also invited to contact Director of Training Maxine Anderson at maxinekander@gmail.com or Admissions Chair Adrian Jarreau at adrianjar@comcast.net. Interested individuals are also welcome to contact any of our current candidates listed on the NPS Member Roster via this link. Applications are being accepted on an ongoing basis for fall 2013.

 

Curriculum Committee - David Rasmussen

David Rasmussen 

 

Maxine Nelson  

David Rasmussen (Chair)

Barbara Sewell

 

Among the Curriculum Committee's tasks are 1) the development and revision of the  curriculum for the Institute's training program in psychoanalysis, 2) the arrangement of teaching assignments for the clinical and didactic seminars, 3) meeting with faculty in developing their syllabus for the course they will teach, 4) reviewing candidate evaluations of courses and faculty, and 5) using candidate feedback for future course and faculty development. 

 

Progression Committee -

Marianne Robinson 

 

Marianne Robinson (Chair)

 

A new committee is being formed. In that process, we will build on the able work of the previous Progression Committee. We look forward to outlining our development and activities in the next issue.

 

Outreach Committee - Dana Blue

 

Margaret Bergmann-Ness

Dana Blue (Chair)

Caron Harrang

Julie Hendrickson

Maxine Nelson

Barbara Sewell

 

Outreach committee activities pertain both to the Society and the Institute. For details see the report (above) in the NPS Society News section of the newsletter.

 

Training Analysts Committee - Mirta Berman-Oelsner  

Mirta Berman-Oelsner

 

Maxine Anderson

Cecile Bassen

Mirta Berman-Oelsner (Chair)

Elie Debanne

Judy K Eekhoff

Ken King

Robert Oelsner

Marianne Robinson

Don Ross

 

The committee holds monthly meetings where NPS training analysts are invited to participate. During these gatherings, different issues related to training analysis and training supervision are discussed. We are in the process of finding common criteria that will be useful for the Institute.

Members in Action

 

Dave Parnes, Reporter David Parnes

 

Caron Harrang Publishes in IJP

 

Caron Harrang, LICSW FIPA, will have an article published in the IJP. The article, which grew out of a presentation she gave at this year's Alliance Forum conference, examines destructive narcissism as it appears in Pedro Almodóvar's film The Skin I Live In (2011). The paper, entitled "Psychic Skin and Narcissistic Rage: Reflections on Almodoóvar's The Skin I Live In," will be published sometime in early 2013.

 

In the introduction to the paper, Caron writes:

 

"Given the ubiquity of narcissistic concerns presented by most, if not all, patients in psychoanalytic treatment, this work of art provides a useful opportunity to consider the implications of certain types of character pathology (e.g. destructive narcissism) outside of the responsibilities present in the consulting room. Specifically, I hope to show how the film's characters and central narrative exemplify two important analytic concepts and can be better understood in light of them. I'm referring, first, to the notion of "psychic skin" (Bick 1968), or the mental membrane that encompasses our sensations, thoughts, and feelings analogous to the way our physical skin provides an anatomical protective barrier between the internal and external environment. This dual meaning of skin-literal and symbolic-is clearly alluded to in the film's title. Second, and perhaps less obviously, I have in mind the concept of "narcissistic rage" (Kohut 1972), or the smoldering fury and desire for revenge that follows from perceived threats to an internal omnipotent object or frame of mind. Rage, as distinct from other forms of aggression, such as anger and even hatred, emanates from an omnipotent state of mind that denies separateness between self and object."

 

Caron is a psychoanalyst and graduate of NPS. She maintains a private practice in Seattle and is on the Board of Directors at NPS where she also teaches and serves on several committees, including Outreach, Publications, and Relocation.

 

Jeffrey Eaton Visits Sydney

 

While in Sydney, Australia, this summer, Jeff was invited to give a clinical workshop at the Sixth International Francis Tustin Memorial Conference. Joan Symington discussed his presentation in a meeting chaired by Eve Steel, a psychoanalyst from the British Society. While in Sydney, Jeff also offered a two-day workshop on child psychotherapy, at the invitation of Norma Tracy at her foundation Gunawirra. Gunawirra provides early intervention and outreach to at-risk Aboriginal youth and families in the territories of New South Wales.

 

Jeffrey will be offering a CIPS seminar this fall, via teleconference. The seminar will focus on his 2011 book A Fruitful Harvest: Essays after Bion. Jeffrey and participants will be reading chapters on mental pain, the obstructive object, attention, and listening.

 

Jeffrey will also be giving a yearlong seminar on listening models, sponsored by The Alliance. Seminars included in this series are "Listening to yourself listening to another" (Fall); "Listening to the floor for experience" (Winter); and "Listening to the echoing darkness" (Spring).

 

Jeff is winner of the tenth International Frances Tustin Memorial Lecture Prize for his paper "The Permanent Earthquake: Notes on the Treatment of a Young Boy" and author of A Fruitful Harvest: Essays after Bion, published by The Alliance Press (Seattle). He is a founding member of INSPIRA, the International Seminar on Psychoanalytic Intervention and Research into Autism. Jeff is in private practice in Seattle, providing psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to children and adults.  

 

Maxine Nelson, Reporter Maxine Nelson

 

Images of Women Conference

 

NPS senior candidate Maxine Nelson, LICSW, represented NPS in participating on the planning committee for the Images of Women conference, co-sponsored by SPSI and COWAP (Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis) on October 5-6, 2012. The committee included members from all four psychoanalytic training institutes in Seattle as well as the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study.

 

In addition, Maxine helped to plan and coordinate the pre-conference event "Women in Film," which took place at the Frye Art Museum on Sunday, September 30, 2012, as a special Magic Lantern program. Along with Robert Horton, Seattle film critic and Magic Lantern host, Maxine presented her responses to the 1944 Otto Preminger film noir classic Laura.

 

Stephen Shehorn, Reporter

 

Join the NPS Psychotherapy Community

 

We wish to remind you that NPS has added a community membership category. We have taken this action because we value the presence and contributions of those who are not IPA members or psychoanalytic candidates but already attend events like our annual Evolving British Object Relations conference and monthly scientific meetings.

 

Community members are psychotherapists and allied health professionals (medical doctors, physician's assistants, nurses); journalists, editors, and writers; actors and playwrights; and others whose work may be enhanced by a deeper understanding of the psychic reality and human mental life, who are interested in psychoanalysis and desire to support the scientific and educational activities of the Society.

  

Benefits of membership include:

  • 10% discount for continuing education courses, seminars, and scientific meetings
  • Email updates and reminders of programs and special events
  • Subscription to Selected Facts: Newsletter of the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society
  • Opportunity to participate in psychodynamic study groups
  • Opportunity to contribute on NPS committees

 

We invite you to apply to become a community member of NPS by downloading an application (.pdf document) via this link

 

Submissions Invited for 2013 Forum Conference

 

NPS Community Member Marian Evans (Chair of the 2013 Forum Conference) wishes to remind members that they are invited to submit proposals for the presentation of papers at the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study's Annual Forum Conference (Saturday, April 13, 2013, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at Shoreline Community Center). Contact Marian at 425.709.3000 for more information. Email proposals (due January 21, 2013) to Michael Allison at info@ michaelrallison.com. Guidelines for submission can be found by clicking this link.