Impulse is a community newsletter produced by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) and distributed electronically at no cost to subscribers. We envision Impulse as an integrative source for local news, events, and thinking of interest to the psychoanalytically inclined. Our goal is to be your guide as you explore the Bay Area's rich array of analytic resources.

We invite you to become a member of NCSPP, if you are not already. And, we welcome you as a subscriber to Impulse. Join us as we highlight the exceptional diversity of psychoanalytic thought and practice in Northern California.

by Elise Geltman, LCSW

The election was about fear, privilege, and power. Recent studies and statistical analysis help make this more visible -- but we already knew this, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Much of the post-election dialogue surrounded the poor, disenfranchised, white voter who reportedly "wasn't motivated by race" and was "just focused on his or her survival and unmet needs." Although these interpretations are not mutually exclusive, conversations often took on a tone of either-or. I heard this in the media, on the street, and in some of my conversations with analysts and analytic therapists.

It is with this in mind that I invite you to attend our annual lecture with Dr. Kimberlyn Leary on May 6th in Berkeley. Dr. Leary's practice and research interests include first impressions in shaping dialogues, building relationships that promote change, healing after conflict, framing productive dialogue in cultural conflicts, and the role and value of emotion in negotiation. Her published works address psychoanalysis, negotiation and mediation, leadership, race, stereotypes, and inclusion. PEP-Web lists 22 articles written by Dr. Leary, of which I have selected a few to highlight below. I hope you will join us for this timely opportunity to think deeply about how we come together, what we do when we are together, and why being together is an adaptive challenge.

For information and to register, go to https://www.ncspp.org/events/annual-event-and-lecture-day-kimberlyn-leary.

Selected readings by Kimberlyn Leary:

by Catherine Mallouh, MD

SFCP proudly presents:

TRAUMA, POESTRY, AND THE EMERGING WORD:
A Day with Gregory Orr

Gregory Orr is a celebrated poet and author of 11 collections of poetry and two memoirs on poetry and trauma. Much of his early work is concerned with seminal traumatic experiences from his childhood. Orr has said, "I believe in poetry as a way of surviving the emotional chaos, spiritual confusion, and traumatic events that come with being alive." In conversation with Susan Kolodny, poet and chair of the SFCP Poetry and Psychoanalysis program, Orr will discuss his poetry, trauma, and the role of the unconscious in his imagery and language. Alice Jones, poet and member of the SFCP Poetry and Psychoanalysis program, will discuss his work from a psychoanalytic perspective.

Saturday, May 20, 2017
10:30 am - 3:30 pm
San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis
444 Natoma Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 563-5815

For registration and information, go to http://sf-cp.org/poetry.

by Jane Reingold, MFT

CAMERAPERSON

Cameraperson, a film by Kirsten Johnson, is a poetic memoir, a pastiche of scrapped footage -- a Nigerian midwife working feverishly to save a newborn, a toddler playing unsupervised with an axe in Bosnia, an interview with war crime investigators grappling with vicarious trauma, a still image of the inside of a truck used to drag a man to his death, joyous dancers in Uganda, a room with a Virgin Mary sculpture where genocide occurred -- stitched together from 25 years of documentary cinematography.

With no discernible narrative or chronology, the only orienting information provided being the location of each shoot, Johnson invites us to be with these disparate moments -- this beta -- and provide a holding environment; to contain, to metabolize, and to provide meaning to her experiences, to live and bear these experiences that have "marked her and kept her wondering." These fragments begin to take shape inside the viewer, rendering the subject possible through the "two-way logic of transference" (Civitarese, 2016). And yet, each time, the viewer may make different meaning or may apprehend something different. As experiences are presented, emotional threads begin to be woven, to coalesce, and as the terrain shifts, another thread appears, and something else drifts away.

by Molly Merson, MFT

How Psychoanalyst Thomas Ogden Found His True Self in Fiction. A rare interview with San Francisco analyst Thomas Ogden in which he discusses his mother, fiction writing, and the literary experience of psychoanalysis.

The Sublime Psychology of Baltimore. Two therapists explore the psychology of class, race, and violence in Baltimore through a psychoanalytic lens, offering a complex and nuanced understanding of the city's unconscious.

"History" Insists on Covering Up the Intellectual Production of Black Women, Even in the 21st Century. This article describes the life and many accomplishments of Virgínia Leone Bicudo, the first lay (non-doctor) Brazilian psychoanalyst, including her applications of psychoanalytic thinking to issues of class and interpersonal and institutionalized racism.

by Shannon Rogers, PhD

NCSPP's Education Committee is accepting proposals for 2018-2019.
The Education Committee strives to develop programming that represents the intellectual diversity of contemporary psychoanalytic psychology, the diversity of therapists and patients, and the expansion of psychoanalytic theory and practice. Our courses take place in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the North Bay and are available to NCSPP members of all levels as well as to the larger community. Courses meet continuing education credit requirements for LCSWs and MFTs through BBS (Provider #PCE508) and psychologists through Division 39 of the American Psychological Association.

If you are interested in teaching a class, please click here to submit your course proposal: https://www.ncspp.org/submit-course-proposal.

Proposals for 2018-2019 will be accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis and are due by September 30th. Decisions will be delivered by November/December 2017. If you have questions, please contact the Education Chair, Shannon Rogers at shannonrogerstherapy@gmail.com or at (510) 545-4175.

Classifieds: 

OFFICE FOR RENT MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS. Rockridge Market Hall Building. Beautifully furnished with good light. Shared waiting room with light system, kitchenette, private bathrooms for tenants. Call Natalie at (510) 531-1571 if interested.

Old couches, new books, hot jobs, cool internships, office rentals? List them in Impulse's Classifieds for a modest fee. Please see our submission guidelines for details.   

Appointment Book: 

East Bay Psychotherapy Forum
Wed, May 3 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / 2001 Dwight Way / Berkeley
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / A. Blum, PsyD; M. McClure, DMH; M. Donner, PhD / free

Race and Racism in the Clinical Encounter
Wed, May 3 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / F. Hamer, PhD; D. Yu, LCSW / $15 - $20

San Francisco Psychotherapy Forum
Thu, May 4 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / V. Pichardo, MA; N. Talkoff, PhD; E. Markoczy, PsyD / free

Crossing the Threshold: First Impressions in Psychoanalysis and Negotiation
Sat, May 6 / 9:00 am - 4:00 pm / 2150 Allston Way / Berkeley
NCSPP / (510) 982-1280 / K. Leary, PhD, et al. / $40 - $250

Literature and Psychoanalysis: Text and Clinical Context
Sat, May 6 / 9:30 am - 12:30 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / B. de Bernardi, PhD; J. Harasemovitch, LCSW / $45 - $65

Jungian Psychotherapy and Analysis with Muslim Patients
Sat, May 6 / 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm / 2040 Gough St / San Francisco
Jung Institute / (415) 771-8055 / S. Nouriani, PhD / $90 - $125

Origin and Evolution of Madeleine and Willy Baranger's Thinking
Mon, May 8 / 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / B. de Bernardi, PhD; H. Markman, MD / free

The Trauma of Violence, the Violence of Trauma
Fri, May 12 / 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm / 2040 Gough St / San Francisco
Jung Institute / (415) 771-8055 / S. Alvarez, PhD, et al. / $123 - $175

Psychoanalytic Training Graduation Ceremony
Sat, May 13 / 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / M. McClure, DMH / free

Psychoanalytic Training Open House
Thu, May 18 / 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm / Private Home / Los Altos
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / K. St. Lorant, LMFT; T. Pham, MFT / free

Trauma, Poetry, and Emerging Word: A Weekend with Gregory Orr
Sat, May 20 / 10:30 am - 3:30 pm / 444 Natoma St / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / G. Orr / $15 - $75