COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course will outline the evolution of intersubjectivity as a dominant psychoanalytic orientation as well as an increasingly prominent aspect of psychoanalytic thought and work, present in various ways across the spectrum of many psychoanalytic orientations worldwide.

Intersubjectivity as a psychoanalytic orientation comes from the US and involves a theoretical paradigmatic shift as well as re-contextualization of clinical process. It draws on numerous sources, which include, but are not limited to, philosophy of phenomenology, infant research within developmental psychology and child psychoanalysis, and the British (and originally Hungarian) psychoanalytic authors, as well as interpersonal and socio-cultural theories within psychoanalysis and dynamic psychiatry and psychology, and various field theories.

A distinct view of Intersubjectivity in French psychoanalysis, influential in France, Belgium but also in parts of Canada and the US, as well as more recently in parts of Latin America, has developed along parallel lines out of a different psychoanalytic tradition, although there are connecting points. It draws on specific re-reading of German original of Freud’s opus, and a direct translation of Freud into French, in conjunction with a historically meaningful socio-cultural context of the importance of language, and a somewhat different (from the US) interpretation of the Field theories, as well as of British authors. Contemporary accounts of French Intersubjective thinking stress the ‘unconscious subject’ and its formation in relation to ‘the real other’, subject and object.  In the estimation of some contemporary authors, the theories of Intersubjectivity coming out of the US and that of the French psychoanalytic thinking, present a corrective movement of an under-theorized aspect of pre-existing psychoanalytic theory, rather than a revision.

Broad-based definition of intersubjectivity in North America and Europe emphasize the multifaceted and multilayered reciprocal dynamic interaction between people, based on their own (conscious, preconscious and/or unconscious) subjective experiences, and varieties of interpenetrating mutually transformative aspects of such engagements, in early development as well as in psychoanalytic dialogue. In addition, Latin American conceptualizations of Psychoanalytic Field and Unconscious Communication also reflect similar aspects of inter-subjective interactivity.

The course will also explore contemporary findings of affective developmental neuroscience and neuroanalytic studies, seem to substantiate the value of intersubjective connectivity in the context of early development and potentially in variety of nonverbal dialogical situations.

Stated inclusively, the intersubjective paradigm shift and contextualization can be viewed as involving a reconceptualization of the status of the subject, in which all subjective phenomena, including the intrapsychic and relational organizations, are structured in and through their intersubjective contexts.

The instructor will bring examples from her work and will invite and discuss the participants to share their clinical vignettes throughout.

COURSE OUTLINE

Saturday June 6:

Topics:

• Philosophical Roots, Terminology & Socio-Historical Context of various psychoanalytic cultures in North America, Latin America and Europe, pertaining to the evolution of Intersubjective thought and clinical practice.
• Specific Perspectives in North America: Self, Relational, Integrative and Hybrid Perspectives (Inter-Subjective Ego Psychology; Post-Kleinian & Post-Bionian Perspectives).
• Required Readings: Stolorow (2013), Levine and Friedman (2000), Ogden (1994), Schwarz (2012), Chodorow (2004).
• Recommended Readings: Adler & Bachant (1996), Aron (1992), Bass (2001), Benjamin (2004), Ellman & Moskowitz (2008), Freud (1915), Grotstein (2005), Loewald (1975), McLaughlin (2005).

Saturday June 13:

Topics:

• Specific Developments in Europe: Intersubjectivity in Countertransference and Projective Identification; Infant Research; Field Theory; Subjectivation and ‘Intersubjectivation’; the Subject, the Person, the ‘Interpsychic.’
• French Perspectives in Europe and North America.
• Developments in Latin America: ‘Link’ and Relational Perspectives.
• Neurobiological underpinnings of Intersubjectivity.
• Required Readings: Green (2000), Tessier (2014b), Schore (2011), Riviere (2017), Baranger & Baranger (2008/1961).
• Recommended Readings: Ammaniti and Trentini (2009), Böhleber (2013), Bolognini (2002), Civitarese (2008), Ferro (2009), Gallese (2015), Kernberg (2015), Lenzi, Trentini, Pantano et al. (2008), Marucco (2007), Waintrib (2012), Widlöcher (2004).

LEARNING POINTS:

• After attending this course, the participants will be able to
• Describe the evolution of various conceptualizations of INTERSUBJECTIVITY in North America, Latin America and Europe.
• Explain INTERSUBJECTIVITY as the psychoanalytic orientation and as an increasingly prominent aspect of psychoanalytic thought and work, present in various ways across the spectrum of many psychoanalytic orientations worldwide.
• Utilize the theoretical conceptualization of INTERSUBJECTIVITY in their clinical work with their patients, within an intersubjective field between the therapist and the patient.

INSTRUCTOR’S BIO:

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

Tuition: $250/course (can be paid in 2 installments)
Registration fee: $25/course (waived for ORI’s candidates in training)

Please Note: If CEs are requested — there is an additional fee of $25 (can be paid on the day of the conference or in advance).
If you are requesting the CEs, please register as a licensed practitioner and pay the “regular” fee for attending this educational event.

SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIPS are available for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for retired or disabled practitioners, or need-based or/and those who live outside of the USA. You can request scholarship using this form.