Program of Studies 2021
THEORETICAL SEMINARS
Psychoanalytic theories of Object Relations
This one-year course provides an overview of object relations theorists from Freud onwards. Classical, Kleinian, British Independent and Contemporary perspectives will be studied and include commentaries from distinguished contemporary psychoanalysts. Through the reading of key theorists alongside more contemporary interpretations of their work, participants will gain a working understanding of how object relations theories inform contemporary psychoanalytic thinking and practice.
There are 4 terms over the year and each term runs for 8 weeks.
Terms generally fall within school terms.
All seminars will be conducted on Zoom.
Term 1: Ferenczi
Freud in “Mourning and Melancholia” develops for the first time, in a systematic way, a line of thought that would later be termed “object-relations theory”. For this reason, it will be the starting point for this year’s readings on object relations. The remainder of the term will concentrate on the work of Ferenczi. Ferenczi early in his career as a psychoanalyst saw the importance of the interaction between infant and mother for the child’s development and in 1909, the powerful idea introduced by him is that introjection is a process, a psychic process, organising the psyche. As a result, psychopathology that becomes overt in later life could be traced back to disturbing interactions between the patient as a child and his/her caregivers. We will be reading the following papers, Identification with the Aggressor, Confusion of Tongues, and The Wise Baby where this hypothesis will be examined.
Time: Monday 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Dates: 8 February to 29 March 2021
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact the coordinators:
Dr Thea van Hees dvanhees@bigpond.net.au or call 07 3832 1096
Sigrid O’Callaghan sigridoc@aapt.net.au
Term 2: W.R. Fairbairn and Melanie Klein
This term will explore the beginnings of Object Relations through an introduction to the work of Melanie Klein and W.R. Fairbairn. We will review Klein’s fundamental developmental postulates that expanded understanding on psychological functioning beyond early childhood into infancy, including the role of the dyadic mother-child relationship, unconscious fantasy, the mental positions that characterise the infant inner world, and some counter-points reflected on Fairbairn’s ideas about the constitution of the ego, the understanding of impulses, and the centrality of the relationship with the object for the constitution of early emotional life.
Time: Monday 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Dates: Mon 19 April to 21 June (not 26 April or 3 May)
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact the seminar leader:
Dr Jaime Yasky j.yasky@uq.edu.au or call 0468 571 140
Term 3: Bion and the Kleinians
Melanie Klein’s concepts of projective identification and splitting were explored and developed further by her immediate circle and by successive generations of psychoanalysts. This term, we will be focusing on Wilfred Bion’s contributions to psychoanalytic theory and technique. Bion’s impact on psychoanalysis has been enormous. We will consider how his ideas, informed by Freud and Klein, were developed alongside the work of his contemporaries (notably Herbert Rosenfeld and Hanna Segal ) and taken up by other Kleinians and Post Kleinians. We will read Bion’s writings on working with psychotic patients, projective identification and the development of thinking. His concepts of “alpha function” and “container-contained” will be explored, in addition to his controversial ideas on the necessity of working “without memory or desire”. Many of the papers for this term are collected in the volumes Melanie Klein Today, edited by Elizabeth Bott Spillius.
Time: Mondays 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Dates: Monday 19th July to Monday 6th September
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact the seminar leader:
Bernadette Rosbrook b.rosbrook@gmail.com or call 0410 219 675
Term 4: The Independents and Donald Winnicott
In this term we will explore the work of the British Independent tradition including the work of Winnicott, Kohon, Symington and Casement. This tradition represents a creative thread in psychoanalysis, that continues to influence and inspire new thoughts in theory and practice.
Time: Monday 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Dates: To be advised
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact the coordinator:
Margot Lynch margoth@bigpond.com or call 0407 137 105
Sally Young yngs@bigpond.com or call 0407 162 674
THEORETICAL SEMINAR
The Mind and the Brain
This is a one-term course of 8 weekly seminars that will be based on the book by Ronald Britton, Between Mind and Brain: Models of the Mind and Models in the Mind. These readings will show how the unconscious has become central to the growth of the mind through a capacity for symbolic thought and processing emotional states. Britton also creates a bridge to theories originating in neuroscience. This is an extremely thought provoking book. It is integrative and presents complex ideas in a very clear and accessible way.
Term 2 2021, dates to be advised
Time: Thursday 6.30pm-8.00pm AEST
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact seminar leaders:
Dr Thea van Hees dvanhees@bigpond.net.au or call 07 3832 1096
Dr Yaser Baqir dryaserbaqir@hotmail.com or call 0438 990 201
CLINICAL SEMINARS - THEORY IN PRACTICE
Clinical seminars for developing psychoanalytic psychotherapists
The practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a complex and demanding project. We become psychotherapists through personal experience, training and clinical encounters. A clinical seminar with other developing psychotherapists (4-5 people), led by an experienced psychoanalytic psychotherapist, helps to consolidate these experiences. The major focus will be on current clinical practice but will also include some reading and discussion about key issues in psychotherapy practice. Participants are likely to be mental health clinicians who are using, or want to develop the capacity to use, psychoanalytic approaches to psychotherapy.
This seminar runs over 4 terms of 8 weeks each. Priority will be given to participants who enrol for the whole year. The seminars will be conducted on Zoom.
Seminar details
Leader: Tom O’Brien
Time: Wednesday 11.15am -12.30pm
Commences: 17 February 2021
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact:
tom.obrien.52@gmail.com or call 0419 735 366
Using psychoanalytic thinking in our work
Working in public mental health, other health services and NGOs is challenging. Psychoanalytic thinking about how to work with people who experience suffering, trauma and complex personal interactions can assist you to work in thoughtful, respectful and effective practice. Sharing the pleasures and challenges of this work with a small group of others doing similar work can be a valuable developmental experience. Our major focus will be on current practice but may also include some reading and discussion about key issues.
This seminar runs over 4 terms of 8 weeks each. Priority will be given to participants who enrol for the whole year. The seminars will be conducted on Zoom.
Seminar details
Leader: Tom O’Brien
Time: Tuesday 9.15am – 10.30am
Commences: 16 February 2021
Fees: $500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact:
tom.obrien.52@gmail.com or call 0419 735 366
Term 4: Working with difficult presentations in adolescence
This is a course of 8 weekly seminars that will reference contemporary authors to examine the psychoanalytic understanding of adolescent developmental challenges and their link to severe clinical presentations during this period of life such as anorexia, gender dysphoria, deliberate self-harm and suicide attempts. The aim is to provide relevant conceptual tools to think through clinical and work-related material.
Time: Thursdays 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Fees: $ 500 per term
For enrolment and further information contact the seminar leader:
Dr Jaime Yasky j.yasky@uq.edu.au or call 0468 571 140
OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES
Infant Observation
This is a one or two year course of weekly seminars where participants bring detailed accounts of their weekly observations of an infant in his or her home environment from birth onwards. The course aims to develop observational skills and an understanding of the infant’s emerging relationships. This course is one of the best ways of learning about the observer’s own involvement in clinical situations.
This is an ongoing weekly seminar of 11/4 hours. Participants are expected to enrol for at least one year. There is no prerequisite for this course. There will be a maximum of 4 participants in this seminar.
Fees: $50 per seminar
Time: To be arranged with the seminar leader and dependent on the Covid situation.
For enrolment and further information contact the seminar leaders:
Margot Lynch margoth@bigpond.com or call 0407 137 105