Series: Connections and Conversation
Connections and Conversation is a free monthly Zoom meeting, cultivating creativity and freedom of thought and feeling. We invite you to engage with our presenters and community as they share their interests and passions in conversation on current topics in psychoanalysis.
This free event that alternates times. The meeting often begins with a 45 minute presentation followed by 45 minutes of conversation. When an event is recorded you can access the recording at the vault.
This series is open to all.
In case of questions please contact: [email protected]
Why Not the Body?
March 12, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm PDT
My talk will attempt to answer the question, “Why has psychoanalysis been so slow in recognizing the importance of embodiment?” I begin with the idea that people in the western world are often confused about their relationships to their bodies. I provide Sam Anderson’s entertaining as well as insightful exploration of the possible ways in which humans may experience their embodiment.
I also suggest that Freud’s reliance on the energy-discharge science of his time, which proved to be largely incompatible with contemporary scientific thinking, may have delayed the development of a truly embodied psychoanalysis.
I then turn to the vexing problem of touch for analysts which is steeped in the early history of psychoanalysis. I outline the concept of “skinship” by which Jon and I mean the experience of freedom shared by patients and therapists to touch (or not to touch) one another in non-sexual ways. I provide brief clinical
I summarize Zeynep Catay’s research on what she calls “somatic countertransference.” She describes the fears that lead therapists to avoid focusing on bodies.
My talk will end with a consideration of the longing to transcend the body insofar as bodies confront analysts with their mortality and force them to become aware of differences in patients’ physicality that they would prefer to ignore.
This talk is taken from the last chapter of a forthcoming book that I’ve written with Jon Sletvold entitled A New Vision of Psychoanalytic Theory, Practice and Supervision: TALKING BODIES
Presenter
Presenter: Doris Brothers, Ph.D.
Doris Brothers, Ph.D. is a co-founder of The training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology (TRISP). She serves on the advisory board and council of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP). She was a co-editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context with Roger Frie from 2015 to 2019. She is an associate editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry. She has written three books and many journal articles. Her last book is Toward a Psychology of Uncertainty: Trauma-Centered Psychoanalysis (Analytic Press, 2008). A forthcoming book with Jon Sletvold is entitled, A New Vision of Psychoanalytic Theory, Practice and Supervision: Talking Bodies (Routledge). She practices is on the upper west side of Manhattan, New York, USA. as well as in Oslo, Norway.
Series: Connections and Conversation
Connections and Conversation is a free monthly Zoom meeting, cultivating creativity and freedom of thought and feeling. We invite you to engage with our presenters and community as they share their interests and passions in conversation on current topics in psychoanalysis.
This free event that alternates times. The meeting often begins with a 45 minute presentation followed by 45 minutes of conversation. When an event is recorded you can access the recording at the vault.
This series is open to all.
In case of questions please contact: [email protected]
Why Not the Body?
March 12, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm PDT
My talk will attempt to answer the question, “Why has psychoanalysis been so slow in recognizing the importance of embodiment?” I begin with the idea that people in the western world are often confused about their relationships to their bodies. I provide Sam Anderson’s entertaining as well as insightful exploration of the possible ways in which humans may experience their embodiment.
I also suggest that Freud’s reliance on the energy-discharge science of his time, which proved to be largely incompatible with contemporary scientific thinking, may have delayed the development of a truly embodied psychoanalysis.
I then turn to the vexing problem of touch for analysts which is steeped in the early history of psychoanalysis. I outline the concept of “skinship” by which Jon and I mean the experience of freedom shared by patients and therapists to touch (or not to touch) one another in non-sexual ways. I provide brief clinical
I summarize Zeynep Catay’s research on what she calls “somatic countertransference.” She describes the fears that lead therapists to avoid focusing on bodies.
My talk will end with a consideration of the longing to transcend the body insofar as bodies confront analysts with their mortality and force them to become aware of differences in patients’ physicality that they would prefer to ignore.
This talk is taken from the last chapter of a forthcoming book that I’ve written with Jon Sletvold entitled A New Vision of Psychoanalytic Theory, Practice and Supervision: TALKING BODIES
Presenter
Doris Brothers, Ph.D.
Doris Brothers, Ph.D. is a co-founder of The training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology (TRISP). She serves on the advisory board and council of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP). She was a co-editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context with Roger Frie from 2015 to 2019. She is an associate editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry. She has written three books and many journal articles. Her last book is Toward a Psychology of Uncertainty: Trauma-Centered Psychoanalysis (Analytic Press, 2008). A forthcoming book with Jon Sletvold is entitled, A New Vision of Psychoanalytic Theory, Practice and Supervision: Talking Bodies (Routledge). She practices is on the upper west side of Manhattan, New York, USA. as well as in Oslo, Norway.
Presentation Vault
Watch recordings and download papers and slides from past Connections and Conversations and Decentralized Learning Experiences.
