Across the Pond: The British, the French, and the Italians — An Overview

Meryl Botkin, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Friday, September 9, 2011
1.5 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

The Independent Tradition

The Controversial Discussions in the British Psychoanalytic Society during the early 1940s articulated divergences between Melanie Klein and Anna Freud but did not resolve them. Analysts who did not align themselves with Klein or Anna Freud became known as the Middle Group, Middle School, or Independent Group.

This course will outline the essential characteristics of the Independent Tradition as it transcends its history of being defined by a negative into a vibrant. Emphasis will be on the development of clinical practice focused on understanding the uniqueness of individual experience rather than explicating general principles of human behavior. We will make use of the work of Balint, Winnicott, Symington, Coltart, and Parsons to investigate their particular interest in the quality of the patient’s experience, the analyst’s awareness of her impact on the analytic process, and the need for restraint in interpretation.

John DiMartini, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Catherine McKenzie, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Fridays: September 16, 23, 30; October 7, 14, 21, 2011
9 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

The Contributions of Melanie Klein and the Neo-Kleinians

Melanie Klein and her students significantly impacted the practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy across the globe. Her thinking about psychoanalysis was fundamentally affected by Freud’s ideas about the structure of the mind, yet at the same time, she vigorously pursued her own intuitive version of Freud’s ideas and of her patients’ problems including the best methods with which to reach them. Klein’s innovative ideas inspired her many students, who then went on to produce their own unique contributions to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis.

In this seven-week course, we will survey some of Melanie Klein’s and her students’ major contributions to psychoanalytic theory and clinical work, including their understanding of unconscious phantasy and internal objects, the paranoid schizoid and depressive positions, projective identification, the centrality of the Oedipus complex, the vicissitudes of the death instinct, and containment, transference and counter-transference.

To study these, we will focus our attention on the clinical writings of Melanie Klein, Herbert Rosenfeld, Betty Joseph, Hanna Segal, Ron Britton, Donald Meltzer and Michael Feldman.

Margo Chapin, M.F.T., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Fridays: October 28; November 4, 11, 18; December 2, 9, 16, 2011
10.5 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

Bion and the Contemporary Analytic Attitude

The conceptual scaffolding developed by Bion goes well beyond his Freudian and Kleinian roots, and points toward a lively and creative re-envisioning of our clinical practices. In this seminar, we will explore Bion’s fundamental concepts in order to make an approach to themes developed in his later work, including the myths of Oedipus, Eden, and Babel, the mystic and the group, the problems of memory and desire, and transformations in O. Bion’s reflections on psychoanalytic epistemology, though challenging to access, are entirely consistent with an analytic attitude of critical pluralism, and extremely useful as a container for the evolution of one’s analytic identity within contemporary psychoanalysis and its competing schools. Overall, this seminar aims to offer an enriching meta-perspective to participants, one that breathes new life into old and familiar approaches to theory and technique.

Lee Rather, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP; Personal and Supervising Analyst, PINC
Fridays: January 6, 20, 27; February 3, 10, 17, 2012
9 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

The Clinical Lacan

Lacan devoted an important part of his work to elaborating clinical categories that, though inspired by Freud, clearly reflected his own contributions.

This seminar will examine the clinical psychodiagnostic categories of perversion, psychosis, and neurosis in their relation to the other, knowledge of the unconscious, desire, and jouissance. We will cover how the entry to language is simultaneous with the advent of the unconscious and the subject for Lacan. We will also discuss the specificity of the position of the analyst in relation to lack and desire. We will examine the handling of the transference, and the role of interpretations, in the context of each psychodiagnostic category. We will cover the concepts Lacan put in place to address the end of analysis, the crossing of the phantasm, and the sinthome (symptom).

Martine Aniel, Ph.D., Personal and Supervising Analyst and Faculty, PINC
Fridays: February 24; March 2, 9, 16, 23, 2012
7.5 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

The Italians: Luciana Nissim Momigliano

Calamich is the Italian term for grape juice boiled down to 1/3 of its original bulk and used to fortify and improve young fully fortified wines. Luciana Nissim Momigliano is the calamich of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, fermented in Milan. In this three-week course, which is part of the Italian contribution to international psychoanalysis, we will read several papers by Nissim Momigliano that present her unique, engaging, and intimate voice — aged to ripe maturity over the years from her immersion in Freud, Klein, Bion, and the British psychoanalysts — offering up a “field blend” that centers on what happens in the analyst’s mind and in the “shared experience” of the analyst and patient in their analytic dialogue.

Patricia Marra, M.F.T., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Fridays: March 30; April 6, 13, 2012
4.5 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

Ferro and the Analytic Field

Ferro offers a new look at the therapeutic endeavor with the use of narratives to track the moment by moment ways in which the functioning of the minds of the patient and therapist are used for mini transformations in the patient’s inner life. Integrating Bion, Klein and Winnicott into field theory introduced into psychoanalysis by the Barrangers, Ferro uses the bipersonal field to track the functioning of the therapeutic pair.

Meryl Botkin, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Fridays: April 20, 27; May 4, 11, 18, 2012
7.5 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.

Gemma Corradi Fiumara and Dina Vallino Maccio

Gemma Corradi Fiumara is a philosopher and psychoanalyst who writes on the centrality of affects in mental life. She integrates cognition and emotion, and writes of the conditions necessary for growth in the therapeutic endeavor.

Dina Vallino Maccio graduated in philosophy and specialized in psychology. She has supervised infant observation groups at the University of Milan, and now works in Milan as a child and adult psychoanalyst.

Meryl Botkin, Ph.D., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Patricia Marra, M.F.T., Member and Faculty, SFCP
Fridays: May 25, June 1, 2012
3 CME/CE credits available

Educational objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the different theoretical contributions of the British, French and Italian models of the therapeutic endeavor and the role they play in the therapeutic discourse and practice of today.
2. Participants will be able to explain the different ways in which therapist’s role is conceived in these different traditions of psychoanalytic thought.
3. Members will be able to describe the way the unconscious is configured in the traditions of the British, French and Italian psychoanalysis and what this means in terms of therapeutic interventions in each model.
4. Participants will be able to apply their understanding of the different models of British, French and Italian therapeutic models of therapeutic interventions.