East Bay Intensive Study Group —
RUPTURE: Pain and Possibility
Our relationships are, in so many ways, not only the defining feature of the human experience, but also of civilization and the forms it takes over time. This year’s topic, Rupture: Pain and Possibility, has been inspired by shared experience during the pandemic, and the sociopolitical and personal events that have shaken our sense of security. The course will include a deeper exploration of trauma theory from multiple perspectives. It also will delve into the possibility of repair and healing by working to build an understanding of the myriad perils and opportunities in these unprecedented times.
Theories of reparation, both psychoanalytic and socioanalytic, are relevant for the present moment: they seek to understand what makes reparation meaningful between individuals and groups. How does one anticipate being treated? How does one consider their behavior towards others? Exchanges can go unconsidered until something unexpected occurs: the surprise of being treated differently, being taken aback when behavior that has gone unchallenged is suddenly unacceptable. Shock when something hurtful is spoken, after it emerges from a veil of silence. Learning how differently someone else interprets an exchange, in which both people participate. These moments can be liberating or annihilating.
These experiences reference powerfully our early attachment experiences, and the relationship between them can have far-reaching effects upon memory and personality integration. A fundamental listening between the mind and the body is the foundation of inner-balance and well-being. Early linkages made between the psyche and the soma are disrupted by the psycho-physiological impact of traumatic ruptures, at personal and cultural levels. Through the case material, as clinical ruptures allow for earlier ruptures to emerge, we will explore the varied emotional breaches in sensory experience that create these inner chasms in the relationship with the self.
The sociocultural sphere parallels the intrapsychic realm of experience; the splitting of society into ingroups and outgroups often makes particular use of language. The enforced silence of others is accomplished by not acknowledging the ways these imbalances perpetuate themselves in society, along ever-repeating but different splits and strata. Ultimately, building gentle bridges is the commitment we make as a society, and as individuals, when we inhabit and share the same physical and cultural space. This critically important commitment, to repair injury, requires that we might understand resistances to reparation: how theories of intrapsychic repair compare with those of intersubjective and institutional repair.
Click here for detailed information about individual ISG segments
NCSPP is aware that historically psychoanalysis has either excluded or pathologized groups outside of the dominant population in terms of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, and size. As an organization, we are committed to bringing awareness to matters of anti-oppression, inequity, inequality, diversity, and inclusion as they pertain to our educational offerings, our theoretical orientation, our community, and the broader world we all inhabit.
Presenters' Responses:
Reyna Cowan
We live in a world of shared trauma and catastrophic loss. In this de-centered world, we must think about how we use different parts of ourselves to engage and respond. It is important to investigate how we can keep in mind unconscious conflict, familial pressures and the reality of our unjust world. The class will focus on the impact of intrapsychic and interpersonal trauma and link it to social underpinnings that are confronted in the day-to-day world. These include the impact of Covid and socio-cultural issues that put added pressure on our functioning.
Molly Merson
This course will center writing from psychoanalysts, clinicians, and thinkers of color and those who occupy gender and sexuality-diverse spaces. I am a white, gender nonbinary, home owning middle class person working and living on occupied and unceded Ohlone and Patwin land. I pay my respects to Elders and generations to come by giving Shuumi, honoring land, relationships,and community, and working to end white supremacy.
Tom Wooldridge
I am aware of psychoanalysis' history of privileging culturally dominant identities and I intend to offer a course that will not replicate this pattern. The construction of a mind-body link is inseparable from the cultural surround- the words a parent gives to her infant's affects, not to mention her psychological capacity to do so, are shaped, promoted, and constrained by the larger cultural surround, socioeconomic pressures, etc. Through case material and discussion of the reading the course will invite clinical thinking about clients from a diverse array of identities."
Adam Beyda/Carolina Bacchi
The class will focus on the impact of intrapsychic and interpersonal trauma as well as on sociopolitical realities and oppressive cultural forms. In our discussion of trauma and its effects (shuttering of love and tenderness, turning away from community) we will of necessity be thinking of the position and potential of the individual with respect to a wide array of constitutive factors, including their social and cultural selves. As a part of this, we hope to invite conversation and reflection about the social landscape and its effect on the constitution of emotional life, including the participants' backgrounds and experiences as social and cultural beings.
At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:
-
Develop a way to think about the way that emotional growth can be hindered through the use of various unconscious defensive strategies.
-
Understand differences between autistic defenses, dissociative defenses and feelings of deadness.
-
Identify at least three ways in which rupture can happen interpersonally in relationship to structural inequity.
-
Explain Diamond’s “dual-track” model, including his triadic conception of trauma and distinctions between primary and secondary dissociation, splitting, and repression.
-
Explain the impact of intergenerational transmission in emotional development and how relational
-
Bateman, A. and P. Fonagy (2008). 8-Year Follow-Up of Patients Treated for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-Based Treatment Versus Treatment as Usual. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(5), 631–638. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07040636.
-
Beebe, B., Lachmann, F., Markese, S., Buck, K. A., Bahrick, L. E., Chen, H., . . . Jaffe, J. (2012). On the origins of disorganized attachment and internal working models: II. An empirical microanalysis of 4-month mother-infant interaction. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 22, 352-374.
-
DeMaat, S., et al., (2013). The current state of the empirical evidence for psychoanalysis: a meta-analytic approach. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, v. 21 (3), 2013.
-
Felsen, I. (2017) Adult-Onset Trauma and Intergenerational Transmission: Integrating Empirical Data and Psychoanalytic Theory, Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 12:1, 60-77, DOI: 10.1080/15551024.2017.1251185
-
Yehuda R, Lehrner A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry. 7:243–257.
Carolina Bacchi, Psy.D., is an analyst at PINC and in private practice in Oakland, working with children and adults, as well as offering consultation for early career clinicians. Originally from Brazil, she is interested in issues of immigration and the interface between cultural dislocation, inner creativity, and psychoanalytic technique.
Adam Beyda, Psy.D., works with adult individuals and focuses on developing creative modes of living. Formerly the Director of Counseling Services at Holy Names University and clinical faculty at the Wright Institute, Dr. Beyda has supervised and taught widely in the community and co-facilitates an ongoing case conference centered on deepening clinical practice. Dr. Beyda, an advanced candidate at PINC, maintains a general practice of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and consultation in Oakland.
Reyna Cowan, Psy.D., LCSW, is a psychoanalyst, a personal and supervising analyst at PINC, and is on faculty at both PINC and SFCP. She teaches widely throughout the Bay Area and has a private practice in Oakland, where she works with adults, couples, adolescents, and children.
Molly Merson, LMFT, is in independent practitioner working with adults and adolescents in psychoanalysis and talk therapy. Whether through writing, presentations, blogging, or in her work with patients, Molly interrogates whiteness and other systems of power and aims to incorporate decolonial approaches to healing. https://www.mollymerson.com/
Tom Wooldridge, Psy.D., ABPP, is a psychoanalyst, board-certified clinical psychologist, and associate professor at Golden Gate University. He has published two books: Understanding Anorexia Nervosa in Males and Psychoanalytic Treatment of Eating Disorders (Relational Perspectives Book Series), in addition to numerous articles on a wide range of topics. He is in private practice in Berkeley.
This ISG is for clinicians with moderate to extensive experience in clinical work with some background in the principles of psychoanalytic approaches or laypersons with a strong academic or cultural interest in applied or clinical psychoanalysis.
LCSW/MFTs: Courses meet the requirements for 64 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPS, as required by the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences. NCSPP is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider Number 57020), to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCS, and/or LEPs. NCSPP maintains responsibility for this program /course and its content.
Psychologists: Psychologists receive credit through Division 39 upon completion of this course. Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Students not admitted due to space limitation will receive a full refund of their deposit. Cancellations prior to Friday, August 20, 2021: Full refund of deposit minus $100 administration charge. Cancellations after Friday, August 20, 2021: No refund provided.
Administration | registration questions: Michele McGuinness, info@ncspp.org or (415) 496-9949
ISG Program questions: Lila Tschappat, Psy.D., ltschappat@ncspp.org
Intensive Study Group Committee
The Intensive Study Group Committee oversees the year-long ISG. Each fall, the committee puts on an Introductory Event featuring invited guest lecturers who speak to theoretical and clinical themes related to the current subject of the ISG. This event is open to all.