Talks On Psychoanalysis

What if God had created Eve not at Adam’s service, but acknowledging his human condition of helplessness and absolute dependence on another human being? What may be the influence of this Western myth of the creation of civilization upon our subjectivity, especially regarding gender differences? These and other interesting questions are posed by Susana Muszkat in this paper about male violence and its naturalization in society. According to her, gender-biased behaviors associated with masculinity (and femininity) are sustained by fixed cultural codes and repeated unconsciously across generations, in the absence of interventions aimed at deconstructing them. Is it God’s fault, or is it the way we read the myth? Susana Muszkat is a psychologist and psychoanalyst, a full member and faculty member of the Brazilian Psychoanalytical Society of São Paulo. She sees adults, couples, and families in private practice and in institutions. Susana has a master’s degree in Social Psychology, which led her to studies on…

Why does the analyst write? And further why might the analyst write different kinds of pieces such as clinical writing, scientific papers, narratives, or poetry? There are always the considerations of the impact on our patients, their confidentiality and privacy (theirs and ours) but the desire to write and the writing process as well as its products are interesting to explore analytically. In this episode, Jennifer Davids discusses how she relates to her writing process which she links to the process of thinking, gestated as ideas and words and delivered through a process she calls writing through, a form of working through. For her, the process is not without struggle, searching to express herself in a second language that fits the images and sensory-rich world of her mind. And there are anxieties associated with the process of gestating an idea, “Do I have something to say?”, “Can I produce something worthwhile?”, of publishing her work including the anxieties associated with clinical writing and related…

Are the limits of what can be said – the field of the non-verbal, the texture of affects, everything that resists symbolic capture – the true challenge facing psychoanalysis today? In her thought-provoking podcast, “The Body as a Pulsing Frontier”, Ema Ponce de León offers her particular view on the theme of the body in psychoanalysis, developed through her dialogue with Freud and with contemporary authors. Among other ideas, she suggests that the analyst not only listens but also “resonates bodily” feeling in their own body the patient’s pre-verbal elements, especially with those with limited capacity for symbolization or with severe trauma. From this perspective, Ema Ponce proposes an embodied metapsychology in which the body is the fundamental support and grounding of the psyche, which is born out of the original body-to-body encounter, within a constitutive intercorporeality. In this embodied metapsychology, the author highlights concepts such as the tonic dialogue and introduces others such as…

"Psychic Change and Enactment: Some Reflections" is the work that Ariel Liberman offers us, to examine psychic change from a relational perspective, placing enactment as a central moment in the analytic process. Far from understanding it as a mere technical error, he presents it as a shared repetition (by patient and analyst) that, through insight and the analyst's disidentification with the embodied object, can become a transformative experience. In dialogue with the logic of the “deferred action”, how are these scenes resignified “après-coup”? How can the unthought in the analytic field open new possibilities for symbolization and change? Ariel Liberman holds a PhD in Psychology and is a member of the Madrid Psychoanalytic Association with training functions. He is currently the editor of the APM's Journal of Psychoanalysis and participates in the committee that organizes the biennial Spanish Language Meetings held by the APM. Over the years, he has held various positions of responsibility within the…

"How does the psyche navigate the interplay of impermanence and resilience? In 'Vicissitudes of Transience', Jhuma Basak explores the concept of transience through psychoanalytic, cultural, and philosophical lenses, drawing connections between Japanese and Indian contexts. Through myths like Ajase and cultural forms like Bhatiyali songs, Jhuma Basak illuminates how transience shapes our relationship with loss, desire, and creativity. Bridging Eastern and Western perspectives, this reflection invites us to consider the feminine principle of fluidity as a path to embracing impermanence." This article is part of the book “Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India” (Routledge, 2025), a collaboration between Osamu Kitayama and Jhuma Basak exploring primal relationships in Japan and India through a cross-cultural psychoanalytic lens." Jhuma Basak is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Indian Psychoanalytical Society. She has published on culture and gender. Over the past 20…

"What happens when we accept that impermanence is not a loss, but the very essence of life? In psychoanalysis, transience is often associated with mourning and the capacity to renew oneself. Inspired by Freud's 1916 essay and Japanese culture, Dr. Osamu Kitayama explores how impermanence can be a source of psychic vitality and creativity. Through myths like Izanaki-Izanami and traditional Japanese art, Kitayama invites us to reflect on the relationship between transience, mourning, and resilience. How can we find beauty in the ephemeral? Establishing transience as a key concept in Japanese psychoanalysis, Kitayama's work bridges Eastern and Western perspectives. This article is part of the book “Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India” (Routledge, 2025), a collaboration between Osamu Kitayama and Jhuma Basak exploring primal relationships in Japan and India through a cross-cultural psychoanalytic lens." Osamu Kitayama is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Japan…

In this article, Christine Anzieu-Premmereur explores the relationship between compulsion and the body in childhood and adolescence. Using psychoanalytic theory, she analyzes how the compulsive repetition of self-destructive behaviors can represent an attempt to process and make sense of early traumatic experiences. The article highlights the importance of early therapeutic intervention in childhood to prevent emotional and addictive problems later in life. In a world where addiction and emotional difficulties affect many people, understanding the roots of these behaviors is crucial. Through psychoanalytic theory, the author guides us in exploring the underlying mechanisms of compulsive repetition and its role in shaping subjectivity.Christine Anzieu-Premmereur proposes models of early psychic processes that influence repetition compulsion, distinguishing between two types: one that fosters creativity and openness, and another that leads to disorganization and destructiveness. She examines how early…

"X". Calle Alcalá, Madrid. Photograph by Ana M. Martín Solar. With the evocative title “Once Again, the Mystery”, the Argentine psychoanalyst Mariano Horenstein poses the equally enigmatic question: How do we listen to the language of sexuality today? Through an exploration of the relationship between language and psychoanalysis and the historical transformation of the clinical paradigms that have shaped psychoanalytic listening to date: hysteria, in its origins, with its enigmatic language surrounded by silences, which inaugurated the analytical device; psychosis, which after the Second World War led to the expansion of the field, forcing us to give voice and testimony where the absence of repression predominated; the author shows us the trans clinic as a new paradigm that is currently emerging, not only because it requires the analyst to be heard, but also because it bursts onto the scene with its own voice and avatars of inclusive language, directly challenging psychoanalytic theory and practice, and thus…

In the wake of profound cultural change, the traditional image of the father has been destabilized, prompting renewed psychoanalytic reflection. No longer confined to authority alone, the paternal figure is now expected to embody both care and limit. What psychic space does the father occupy in the life of the child? In this episode, Heribert Blass explores fatherhood through a contemporary psychoanalytic lens. Drawing on clinical experience, interdisciplinary research, and cultural observation, he outlines a model of committed paternity that integrates emotional presence with symbolic function. From early play to Oedipal conflict, the father's task is to protect, to differentiate, and to support the child's path toward autonomy. Rather than fading, he emerges as a complex figure situated at the intersection of intimacy, separation, and symbolic function—and essential to the child's inner world. Heribert Blass, medical doctor, is a psychoanalyst for adults, children, and adolescents; a training and…

The current social, political and historical context offers many difficult challenges. We have experienced up close and from a distance awareness of a remarkable number of challenges including the wars, political unrest, growing socioeconomic inequities, climate catastrophe, and human and animal suffering. These times are also marked by polarized thinking, including among analysts, candidates and in our communities. An application of a psychoanalytically-informed method that rests on psychoanalytic clinical theory but focuses on group experiences of psycho-historical conflict as it continues in the present is offered as a means to facilitate deep and moving change when there is toxic polarization. In this episode, Dr. Harriet Wolfe presents a unique application of psychoanalytic thinking. She describes an interdisciplinary group that is international, intergenerational and diverse that meets periodically to apply analytic thinking to intractable large scale historical group traumas. This method, called the…

What happens when the analytic setting—built on confidentiality and silence—meets the institutional demands of psychoanalytic training? Can the frame of supervision truly preserve the integrity of the analytic pact, or does it inevitably put it at risk? In this episode, Ellen Sparer explores a central paradox in psychoanalytic formation: the tension between the confidentiality of analytic work and the structural requirements of supervision. Drawing from her experience at the Paris Psychoanalytic Institute, she asks whether supervision risks undermining the very foundation of the analytic situation—what Freud, in An Outline of Psychoanalysis, described as a pact in which “the patient’s sick ego promises us the most complete candour…” while “we, on the other hand, assure him of the strictest discretion.” Through reflections on André Green, José Bleger, and Freud’s concept of disavowal, Sparer examines what she calls a “noisy contradiction”—a situation in which the analyst-in-formation becomes both observer and…

Medical interventions in fertility have transformed how people experience parenthood. How can clinicians navigate the intricate emotional landscape created by assisted reproduction? In this episode, Renata Viola Vives and Ana Teresa Vale explore the complex relationship between assisted reproduction and psychoanalysis, drawing from their edited book, "Pregnancy, Assisted Reproduction and Psychoanalysis," published by Routledge. Conceived through years of clinical work and shaped by the collaborative encounters fostered by COWAP, the IPA Women and Psychoanalysis Committee, they explore how contemporary practices redefine our understanding of parenthood, identity, and desire. Drawing on their extensive experience, the authors address the historical tensions between psychoanalysis and reproductive technologies, and highlight the need for a nuanced approach. By examining the emotional impact of procedures like gàmete donation and sùrrogacy, they emphasize the importance of understanding the anxieties and…

What challenges face the patient and analyst in constructing the analytic space? How can the analyst navigate the interplay of intense emotional dynamics to enable meaningful transformation? In this article, titled "The Analyst and the Patient: Building a Space for Thinking", Alberto Carrión García de Parada, delves into the intricate process of building a shared analytic space. Drawing on his extensive experience in child and adolescent psychoanalysis and parent-infant psychotherapy, he examines the dynamic interplay of transference and countertransference, highlighting the analyst's active role in containing disturbing emotional and mental content. Integrating classical theories with contemporary developments, the article references key figures such as Wilfred Bion and León Grinberg to explore the evolution of the analytic process through shared emotional "storms" and the gradual dismantling of initial patient resistances. By emphasizing the importance of the analyst's reverie and countertransference…

In this podcast episode, Dr. Patricia Alkolombre discusses how the desire for a child has become in some cases, the passion for a child “at any price”, made more urgent and concentrated as the biotechnical innovations offer us the sense that we have control over our bodies and their reproductive and gestational functions in new ways. She discusses what this means for psychoanalytic understandings of gender, parenthood, femininity, loss, disappointment, narcissism and our understandings of ourselves and how this new era of reproduction ushers in a new set of clinical issues.

What is it that is so captivating about travel? In Freud’s travel letters chronicling his experiences over many decades in different countries, there are the seeds of the advance of non-clinical experiences of psychoanalysis. Travel takes us to another place with unfamiliar surroundings so that we might see anew that which we may otherwise take for granted. Awe and beauty are often experiences we have while abroad. And these are described by Freud over and over again in these captivating letters. In this podcast episode, Dr. Patricia O’Donnell discusses Freud’s travel letters and his musings on the pleasures of travel, art, and architecture, as experiences that inspire awe and transcendence. She links these experiences to the unconscious fantasizing that stems from curiosity, rooted in infantile sexuality and that gives rise to the desire to know and triggers of experiences of passion. Dr. Patricia O’Donnell is a psychiatrist, a full member and training analyst of the Argentine Psychoanalytic Association and…

Jacqueline Godfrind presents her paper on the inanimate objects and their meaning.

How can neuropsychoanalysis help us to understand Artifical Intelligence? We encounter Artificial Intelligence everyday, which is modeled to a certain extent on human consciousness, and so AI gives us a view into what we know and what we may not know about ourselves. In addition, we now develop our sense of self and others both within the virtual and material worlds – AI could be said therefore to not only be modeled on human consciousness, but it is also impacting our development. In this podcast episode, Dr. Rosa Spagnolo discusses consciousness, artificial intelligence and the development of superintelligent AI. She considers what this implies for human and AI development, identifications, subjectivity, and suffering, leveraging neuropsychoanalytic understandings of the mind. Dr. Rosa Spagnolo is a child neuropsychiatrist, developmental psychotherapist and psychoanalyst member of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society and the IPA. She is co-chair and co-founder of the Italian Psychoanalytic Dialogues…

How does a psychoanalyst grapple with the sudden impact of a traumatic loss in their personal life, and how does it reverberate in their professional capacities? How do analysts navigate the challenges associated with illness or the inevitable effects of aging?Moving beyond the various losses in real life, analysts face the challenge of dealing with the loss and mourning of their illusions—illusions of immortality and invulnerability. Analysts are tasked with confronting their own finitude and limits, contemplating how to approach and address them. In this podcast episode, Marc Hebbrecht delves into the nuanced scenarios of loss and disillusionment that psychoanalysts encounter throughout their careers, drawing insights from Nanni Moretti's film “La Camera del Figlio”, as an illustrative example. Marc Hebbrecht is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is a full member, training analyst and current president of the Belgian Psychoanalytical Society (SBP). He lives in Tongeren, Belgium, and works in private…

The place of sexuality in psychoanalytic treatment and training today: Can we observe a disappearance of sexuality in case reports and supervisions? How does the evolving discourse on sexuality influence psychoanalytic practice and training? In an era where sexual dysphoria is seemingly on the rise, particularly among younger generations, questions arise about the current positioning of Freud's drive theory and the status of sexual issues in psychoanalytic education. Are we witnessing a shift where sexuality loses its central place within psychoanalytic thought? In this episode of the IPA Talks On Psychoanalysis podcast series, we explore these questions through a comprehensive discussion. The focus is on the potential diminution of sexual themes in psychoanalytic case reports, as observed in recent years, and its implications for psychoanalytic methodology. The discourse originated in the 2021 supervisors' and training analysts' conference of the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV) in Cologne, Germany…

Still Life with Fruit and Wineglasses on a Silver Plate, c. 1659-1660, Willem Kalf. Courtesy Mauritshuis, The Hague. Why do some people seem unable to achieve full satisfaction in things? What keeps them dissatisfied even after achieving their goals? And why does the Ego persist in avoiding mourning and sticking to the same solutions? In this episode of the IPA Talks On Psychoanalysis podcast series, Salman Akhtar presents his theory that redefines the classical Kleinian conception of the rupture between Gratification and Satisfaction as a consequence of the death instinct derived attack upon the provider of gratification. This should indeed lead us to the search for a state of tranquility rather than an increase in tension. What role does the Life Instinct, instead, play in this restless search, in this excessive intense refusal to believe that further gratification shall not result in satisfaction? This exploration not only offers a theoretical perspective but also has profound implications for clinical…

A plea for a third topicality.An intrapsychic representation of the intersubjective bond,even before the discovery of the object. Can psychoanalysis be useful with infants? How can we think through concepts of metapsychology with infants? The two Freudian topics are in reference to the instances which are fruit of the completed intrapsychic differentiation process. How can they be useful with infants, who by nature are still undifferentiated and unfinished? In this episode Bernard Golse presents us with his arguments for a third topical approach. Drawing on his extensive experience of parent-infant therapy, he proposes a metapsychology of the primitive pre-object bond, a perinatal topic of mental representation of the intersubjective bond prior to differentiation of instances and object discovery. Bernard Golse is a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (member of the Association Psychanalytiquede France) and Professor Emeritus of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Université Paris Cité. For many years he…

How can we think about the Oedipus complex today in a contemporary society beset by a crisis of ideals and the emergence of new forms of sexuality? Neurosis has not disappeared, but borderline states have become a prevalent adaptive mode in a world lacking solid authority figures and sinking into symbolic misery. In this episode, François Richard is proposing his concept of the distorted Oedipus complex. Beginning with theoretical conceptions of Freud and then of his successors, he is suggesting that a specific form of the infantile oedipus complex persisting in adolescents and adults, give us a better understanding of borderline patients. François Richard is a psychoanalyst and a member of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society. He is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Paris and has worked for many years in various medical and psychological institutions. As a clinical psychologist, he has also studied social sciences, which broadens his reflection on the impact of social factors on individual psychology.…

Our self is always there and present throughout our whole life. Despite the many social, environmental and ecological changes as well as the major bodily changes, our self remains one and the same throughout the changes of our life. Where and how is the temporal continuity of our self coming from? Georg Northoff is a philosopher, neuroscientist and psychiatrist, holding degrees in all three disciplines. He works in Ottawa/Canada holding a Canada Research Chair for Mind, Brain Imaging, and Neuroethics. His research focuses on the relationship between brain and mind. The question driving him is: “why and how can our brain construct mental features like self, consciousness, etc.” His approach to this complex answer is as unique as it is simple: he proposes that the brain’s constitutes its own inner time and space which, if properly aligned to and synchronized with the world’s outer time and space, will yield mental features like self and consciousness. This led him to develop a spatiotemporal theory of…

What is the relationship between the mind and the body, and how does it shape our understanding of the self? In this episode, Rosa Spagnolo presents her reflections on the topic, published in her recent book, written with Georg Northoff. In the book, she delves into how out-of-body experiences can shed light on the complex dynamics between the self and the world. She examines the relationship between the body and the brain, the role of time and space in shaping our experience of the self, and the intersection between psychoanalysis and neuroscience. Along the way, she touches on the potential implications of virtual reality on our sense of self. Rosa Spagnolo, MD, Child Neuropsychiatrist; Developmental Psychotherapist; Psychoanalyst, Full Member of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI), IPA Member. She is Co-Chair and co-founder of the Italian Psychoanalytic Dialogues (IPD) association, which organizes annual Rome Conferences, on psychoanalytic and neuroscientific issues. She is a member of NPSA and chair…

Happiness is humans' undeniable desire, but why does it seem so within reach for some, and so rare and difficult for others? What makes it possible from the psychic perspective? In this episode, Dr. Marion Minerbo shares with us, in a clear and concise voice, her studies on the aptitude for happiness. The author describes brief moments of happiness and from them highlights the psychic elements engaged in making this experience possible. Firmly based on psychoanalytic theory and illustrated with simple everyday life moments, she illuminates and clarifies what she calls aptitude for happiness". Marion Minerbo, MD, PhD. is a full member and training analyst at the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Society of São Paulo. In 2015 she received the award for the best work of training analysts at the Brazilian Congress of Psychoanalysis on "Contributions to a theory on the constitution of the cruel superego". She has previously published dozens of articles and the following books: "Conversations on clinical practice"; "New…

This paper was published in The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual issue 16, in 2022. The full text can be found on the publisher Raffaello Cortina's website: https://riviste.raffaellocortina.it/scheda-articolo_digital/stefano-bolognini/hidden-unconscious-buried-unconscious-implicit-unconscious-Annual_2022_7-3814.html The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual 2022/16 https://riviste.raffaellocortina.it/scheda-fascicolo_contenitore_digital/autori-vari/the-italian-psychoanalytic-annual-2022-16-9788832854947-3807.html The current extension of the concept of the Unconscious to different levels, configurations, and functioning of the mind is the result of decades of collective reflection on clinical work as well as on theory. Analysts today have a broader, more refined and complex knowledge of defensive and transformative processes, and this has also led to an evolution in technique. The paper we present today is a combination of psychoanalytic theory and technique through two clinical cases that present complex articulations…

For those interested in the extensive written version on which this short talk is based, please contact the author at jfartaloytia@gmail.com . From the Freudian conception of psychic bisexuality to the current approaches of transgenderism, the question of gender has knocked at the door of psychoanalysis to account for its articulation in the social context of its time. The different ways that people position themselves in life, confronts us with the challenge of thinking psychoanalytically about gender today. Thus, this episode is entitled “Why and what is gender for?”. Juan Francisco Artaloytia takes up this question. He talks about how and why gender emerged in the history of language and the species, and to what extent gender is still as important as it was in its origins. Link to the paper https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QTbz_6lIbJRrl4N4QBwRwSAWZoP7vlgG/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=112457875385152358388&rtpof=true&sd=true Juan Francisco Artaloytia holds a PhD, is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist and…

How do recent external and internal changes emerge in the theoretical-technical and clinical understanding of psychoanalysis today? How to think psychoanalytically about the topic of war today more than ever? In this episode entitled External and internal changes in recent times, Mercedes Puchol reflects, among other things, on the impact of these changes in relation to remote analysis, and considers the notion of analysability, originally postulated by Carlos Paz in 1971, to be fundamental for thinking about all the challenges and questions that remote analysis raises. Finally, the author, faced with the level of destruction and pain that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused, reflects on the importance of identifications in the "construction of emotional ties that operate against war (Freud, 1933)". Mercedes Puchol is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. She lives and works in Madrid with adults, children and adolescents. She is training analyst of the Madrid Psychoanalytical Association (APM)…

In this episode, Mary Adams delve into issues related to the trauma of being a replacement child. She illustrates this with the example of James Joyce, as "he seemed to overcome the debilitating effects of this early trauma and survivor guilt by using his writing". Mary Adams is a psychoanalyst with the British Psychoanalytic Association, having completed her training in 1996. She was a training analyst with the Association of Child Psychotherapists, has a particular interest in the work of Donald Meltzer and has written several papers using his ideas. She is a past editor of the Journal of the British Association of Psychotherapy. Her book on James Joyce as a replacement child was published by Routledge in 2022. Link to the paper https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-hL8XbcupQQXAwbwh4ow4hQkBwccIyTo/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=112457875385152358388&rtpof=true&sd=true Further reading on the Replacement Child: Anisfeld, L., & Richards, A. D. (2000). The replacement child: Variations on a theme in history and…

The paternal function is one of the most embedded concepts both in the singular dimension of clinical thinking and in the extended of social functioning. It underlies, for example, one of the foundational elements of the psychoanalytic method: the very idea of “Analytic Setting” could not exist without a paternal function. In today's episode, thanks to the work of Michael J Diamond, we will explore its many aspects, including the construction of a triangular space, the role of the Third in the internal functioning of the subject, and the question of limits. We will also delve into more specific characteristics, such as the tenderness and sensory intimacy between a little boy and his father. We might say that this podcast episode is like a "child" of Michael J Diamond’s recent book published by Routledge and entitled: "Masculinity and Its Discontents”, in which he studies, as the subtitle says: “The Male Psyche and the Inherent Tensions of Maturing Manhood”. Link to download the paper…

Veterans come home from war with shifted personalities, survival guilt after having lost comrades in battle, denial of feelings and shattered selves. A holding environment of safety if they ever had one is lost. How can a clinician gain the veteran’s trust and create the transitional space necessary for therapy that heals? In this podcast we will listen to Andrew Berry’s paper “The Interpersonal Psychoanalytic Approach to Working with Veterans where he takes a view of war veterans from an interpersonal perspective by seeking the deeper psychological meaning of posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Exploring the veterans ‘relationships with others, provides meaning without which healing cannot be attained. Andrew Berry holds a Ph.D., and a Psy.D. in psychology. He practices as a psychologist and psychoanalyst in Niskayuna, New York. He specializes in PTSD and other mental health needs of veterans. He has published on this topic and lectures at analytic institutes, and both national and international…

The impact of reality on the psychoanalytical treatment and on the work of renunciation of the patient and the analyst.Which realities are involved in the cure? In this episode Bernard Chervet talks about the impact of reality on psychoanalytic treatment. In light of recent contexts of the global pandemic and upheavals it has caused, Bernard Chervet offers us a theoretical exploration of different notions of reality which confront the analyst. By redefining the terms intrusion, irruption and break-in, and by showing the correlation between internal and external realities, he explains how a traumatic external reality bursting into the treatment re-enacts infantile sexuality from childhood when the difference between the sexes was discovered. He shows us how the analyst, guardian of psychic life, must take all these realities into account in his work with his patients. The analyst must respect and even favour a time of immobilisation and temporary denial linked to a shock without losing sight of resuming the…

In this episode dr. Marion Minerbo brings us an original hypothesis about the constitution of the cruel superego – the one that, according to Freud, plants its roots in the id and is pure culture of the death drive. In her hypothesis, the hatred with which the superego attacks the ego comes from the identification with unconscious micro-vows of death that originate in the paranoid core of the parental figure. She proposes a formula that helps us to recognize that these attacks have the function of defending the parental figure's narcissism: “it's not me who... it's you who... and I hate you for that”. Within an asymmetrical relationship with the adult, the child has no alternative but to accept these beta-elements and identify with them. These identifications would then constitute the core of the cruel superego. In the original paper, she shows how these hypotheses about how the superego is constituted helps us in finding a way for its deconstruction . Marion Minerbo, MD, PhD, is a full member and training…

What does a psychoanalyst do in his practice with his patients? How can we define the act of the psychoanalyst at work? It is this vast question that Bernard Penot addresses in this podcast, talking about the act of the psychoanalyst in the service of subjectivation. Referring to Freud's work on transference and then to Lacan's work on the psychoanalytical act during the years of student revolts in France in may 1968, he manages to show us the active involvement of the psychoanalyst in the practice of the cures he provides. Bernard Penot is a french psychoanalyst. He lives and works in Paris. He has been a full member and training analyst of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society since 1990. As neuropsychiatrist, he was the director of a day hospital for adolescents in Paris for many years. He is the author of several books published in french, and of numerous articles published in the French journal of psychoanalysis and the International journal of psychoanalysis. Link to the paper…

This podcast discusses the political nature of psychoanalytic audacity in our era of fake news and disinformation. Today, gullible populations accustom themselves to the lies and misrepresentations of anti-thinking, often through the rumor-mills of social media, where any and every thought, no matter how bizarre, is leveled to an equality of consideration (Frankfurt, 2005; Hayden, 2018; Lipton, 2018; Miller, 2018). Opposed to this flattening of critical meaning, is the psychoanalytic model of enlightenment through mobilization of creative thinking. Ian S. Miller is a clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst and writer based in Dublin. His most recent book is Clinical Spinoza: Integrating his Philosophy with Contemporary Therapeutic Practice (Routledge, 2022). He is also the author of Defining Psychoanalysis: Achieving a Vernacular Expression (Karnac, 2016); On Minding and Being Minded: Experiencing Bion & Beckett (Karnac, 2015); and co-author of Beckett and Bion: The (Im)patient Voice in Psychotherapy and…

A few musical passages serve as examples of how music is a basic component of psychic life and unconscious functioning since the earliest sensorial experiences in utero. Both music and the psyche work through similar mechanisms such as repetition, imitation, variation (transformation), intimacy and the work of mourning, of the negative and of nostalgia. Silence and absence, as well as time and temporality, are key elements both in music and in symbolization and subjectivation processes. Viewing music as a primal and inherent characteristic of psychic structure and functioning allows both a better understanding of somato-psychic development and a musically informed psychoanalytic listening. Ludovica Grassi is a child neuro-psychiatrist, a full member of the Italian Society of Psychoanalysis, a qualified expert in child and adolescent psychoanalysis, and a psychoanalyst of couples and families. She is currently Treasurer of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society. Her main scholarly interests are infant…

In this episode "Sublimation between suffering and pleasure at work", Christophe Dejours develops his theses on the psychodynamics of work, which he has particularly deepened. He examines the work clinic from the angle of sublimation, which he breaks down into «bodypropriation», relationship to the other and relationship to civilisation; sublimation operates in all work, even the most ordinary; it has a powerful effect on identity and mental health. Christophe Dejours shows how certain work organisations, by undermining the subjective springs of sublimation, can destabilise the individual and lead him to a psychological crisis or even to suicide. Finally, he shows how much, according to him, living work - that is to say work enriched by what the subject adds to the prescriptions to achieve objectives - plays an essential role in the structuring and destructuring of the social link. Christophe Dejours is a psychiatrist, a psychoanalyst, a full member and Training Analyst of the French Psychoanalytical…

"Guernica" by Picasso at MOMA, NYC. Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer. Courtesy Library of Congress. What happens when our basic trust in the world is challenged, and the social dimension of reality is disrupted as a consequence of collective trauma?In this episode, Werner Bohleber addresses the theme of traumatic experiences and does so starting from the two main models around which psychoanalytic thought has sought to understand trauma: the freudian psycho-economic model and the object-relational model.Reflecting on what he so effectively defines as "the symbolic web that carries us", Bohleber considers the implications of man-made disasters, and those that befall our individual and collective memory. Werner Bohleber, Dr. phil, is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Frankfurt am Main. He is training analyst and former President of the German Psychoanalytical Association. He has long served on committees of the IPA, the last from 2009-2013 as Chair of the IPA Committee on Conceptual Integration. From 1997…

Thoreau's cove, Lake Walden, Concord, Mass., Detroit Publishing Co., publisher, between 1900 and 1910. Courtesy Library of Congress. Nancy Chodorow is Training and Supervising Analyst Emerita, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Lecturer Part-time in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, and Professor of Sociology Emerita, University of California, Berkeley. At UC Berkeley, she helped to create Women's Studies and was a co-founder of the University of California Interdisciplinary Psychoanalytic Consortium. She serves on the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Research Committee of the IPA, and she was recently Advisor to the Sexual and Gender Diversities Studies Committee of the IPA. Chodorow has written on psychoanalysis and feminism, Loewald and the Loewaldian tradition, and psyche and society, recently naming an American Independent Tradition, Intersubjective Ego Psychology, whose founding theorists are Loewald and…

Flowers and Fruit in a Chinese Bowl, c. 1645, Juan de Zurbarán. Courtesy Art Institute Chicago. What role does Pleasure occupy in human development? What influence did this theme have on the development of Freud's Psychoanalytic theory? What do we think in contemporaneity about the function of pleasure in the psyche? In this episode we have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Rui Aragão Oliveira with his article “Why pleasure?”. Dr. Rui provides an overview of the relevance of the topic for the very emergence of Psychoanalysis, addresses the role of pleasure in the dynamic-economic balance of the psyche and its development, discusses the relationship between people and pleasure in our current society and, finally, points out aspects of pleasure in the clinical work of the analyst. Dr. Rui Aragão Oliveira is a full member and training analyst of the Portuguese Psychoanalytic Society, the SPP, Phd in Clinical Psychology. He is the Chair of the SPP Teaching Committee and Past President of the SPP. He was…

Phantasy knotted around money as a drive derivative organizes unconscious modes of family survival. Social, historical, political, and economic considerations also influence the conscious and unconscious establishment of alliances, pacts, agreements, and rules to govern family life. Is the re-drafting of laws enough to solve the permanent difficulties of equivalence when couples and families talk about money and assets? In this episode we will listen to Paulina Zukerman’s paper: “Couples and Families: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Money Issues”, in which she considers unconscious stipulations to be an illusory attempt to lessen the uncertainty of otherness. She draws references to Freud, Isidoro Berenstein and René Kaës. Paulina Zukerman holds a PhD and is a full member and training analyst at the Psychoanalytic Association of Buenos Aires. She is the director and tenured professor for the Master’s Degree Program on Family and Couples at the University Institute of Mental Health of the Buenos Aires…

Themes of hiding abound in the developmental narratives of boys who grow up to be gay. Their need to hide is reinforced by the traumatizing public humiliation that ensues from either open expressions of same-sex desire or gender- nonconforming behavior. The experience of being discovered, punished, and humiliated for showing or acting on such feelings or behaviors can lead to hiding activities that persist long after the actual trauma is forgotten. When open expressions of same-sex intimacy are driven underground, clandestine and forbidden sexual activities, highly tinged with interpersonal anxiety, may become a significant mode of relatedness. This papers offers a clinical psychoanalytic approach for working with gay men that distinguishes the concept of sexual compulsion from that of sexual identity. Harry Stack Sullivan’s conceptualization of dissociative defenses is useful in clinically understanding and therapeutically working with gay men in general, and with sexually compulsive gay men in particular.…

This paper aims at categorizing two types of discourse with which the body is referred to. It is based on the model of psychic apparatus as presented in Chapter VII of The Interpretation of Dreams, using it as a conceptual instrument for reading the clinical material in the session. These are the discourse of the "evoked body" and the one on the "perceived body". The former historicizes memories and bodily experiences, while the latter alludes almost exclusively to the present of perception and the recording of what has been done. The discourse of the evoked body corresponds to the field of defensive formations—the expression of a conflictive situation for the mind—, in which different types of acting psychic defences can be distinguished. It is a discourse on the body constructed by representations of the oedipal linking framework. The discourse of the perceived body conveys a body that focuses on references to the perception of economic excitatory aspects; it is rich in its allusions to sensations and…

In this episode we come back to deal with Psychoanalysis and Art, through the work of Louise Bourgeois and a small novel very dear to psychoanalysis: "The Gradiva (a Pompeian fantasy)”, written by W. Jensen in 1903. Patricia O'Donnell presents her paper titled: “Of flies and spiders - Gradiva and Louise Bourgeois" and reports that a particular comment inside the book plus the added role of flies with their multiple meanings in the novel were the triggers for thinking about the French artist. "Maman", for instance, the gigantic sculpture of a spider in steel and marble, is the paradigm of a theme repeatedly evoked in the writings and works of the artist, who gave these attractive and fearsome creatures a variety of interpretations. This presentation, which explores and interweaves some biographical information, such as her mourning, the discovery of the difference between the sexes, her writings, her sculpture "Arch of Hysteria”, is an attempt to give us a glimpse into an artistic universe, which expands like…

How deep and historically grounded is the intertwining of cinema and psychoanalysis? In this episode, we'll listen to Vera Lamanno Adamo on the crafts of filmmaking and psychoanalysis as the art of sculpting time. She weaves correlations between the construction of a film and the analytic process, and draws a parallel between the history of cinema and the history of psychoanalysis. This episode refers to an article published in Calibán, Latin American Journal of Psychoanalysis, vl.18, n.2, 2020. Vera Lamanno Adamo is a training and supervising analyst of the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Societies of São Paulo and Campinas. She has published seven books. Her latest are “Work of the Negative”, “Living on the border: psychoanalysis and art”, “In Corners of Life Death Charms” (in Portuguese), and “Teresa Margarida: the audacity of a woman in the 18th century” (in Portuguese). In 2012, she received the Psychoanalysis and Freedom award from the Psychoanalytic Federation of Latin America for her contribution to the…

What is the role of external reality in the formation of traumatic experiences? And how much does this still determine the overcoming of the profound dysphoria that affects certain individuals? With a highly personal and original view on the functioning of the mind from a psychoanalytic perspective, Marion Oliner accompanies us in this episode through a reflection on the impact of catastrophic events on the lives of individuals and th eir descendants. Through her voice we will encounter Diderot, Proust and Baudelaire, Grubrich-Simitis and Winnicott; the tragedy of Nazism and the memorable beauty of the vineyards along the Rhine. Marion M. Oliner has been active in her private practice, teaching, supervising, as a speaker, and as a member of many committees, as well as in the governance of the New York Freudian Society. She is a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association and on the faculty of the New York Freudian Society, the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, and the…

One day, in 1996, with a leap from adjective to noun, a new concept arose within psychoanalytic thought: the Infantile. This term remained so pertinent over time that it has become the core of the title of the 52nd IPA Congress. Florence Guignard was the author who first formulated it in such an accomplished form, and in today's episode she draws important clinical consequences from the theoretical reflection on this concept concerning the analytic relationship and the interpretative activity of the psychoanalyst in their daily work. The Infantile -with a capital “I”- is a limit-concept, which aims at describing a "flexible" structure, at the limits of our animality, at the borders of our Unconscious and our Preconscious system. Being the first and main means of organization of our Ego drives, the Infantile is also the place of our primary fantasies and of the mnemonic traces of our first sensory-motor experiences. It is the most acute point of our emotions and feelings in their non-verbal state. Florence…

In this episode we’ll listen to Christine Anzieu-Premmereur on the construction of auto-eroticism and the ability to fantasize-dream at the dawn of life. Christine Anzieu-Premmereur is a PhD Psychologist trained in Paris, an Adult and Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, member of the Société Psychanalytique de Paris. She moved from Paris to New York in the year 2000 where she has her private practice. She is a faculty teacher at the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research where she is the director of the Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Training Program, and Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University. She is the chair of the IPA Committee for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis and a member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She chairs the discussion group on Parent-Infant Programs at Psychoanalytic Institutes at the American Psychoanalytic Association meetings. She has published several articles and chapters on her work as a psychoanalyst of adults, children, and…

Interpretation of Dreams, by Rod Moss Craig San Roque, community psychologist and psychotherapist has, for the past 30 years lived in Central Australia working within indigenous Australian circumstances. He has written many careful accounts of the existential realities of intercultural collaborations and tensions. Trained in London, with the Society for Analytical Psychology, he cautiously adapts and applies psychoanalytic insights to help negotiate the rough environment of Aboriginal/white Australian relations.Mourning Melancholia and The Echo Effect - on aspects of unconscious transference within black/white relations - is distilled from experience in a project co-developed with indigenous friends who are part of the Central Australian NPY Women’s Council, Uti Kulintjaku/Clear Thinking project, initiated by traditional healers (Ngangkari). The Passion, by Rod Moss References to the Uti Kulintjaku projects, including evaluations by Samantha Togni may be found through the NPY Women’s Council website -…

In preparation for the 52nd IPA Congress, we will present a number of episodes dedicated to the activities that will take place and its theme: THE INFANTILE: ITS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS. Please visit ipa.world/theinfantileonline to explore the extensive program and to register. The 52nd IPA Congress will be held online from July 21st to August 1st, and by visiting our program you can set your schedule to suit your personal time zone. In this episode we’ll listen to Laura Colombi talking about the paper titled: “The dangerous call of the wild. Clinical considerations about dissociation into fantasy”. Here she discusses how fantasizing, understood as a flight into fantasy, belongs to a type of mental functioning as opposed to that of imaginative fantasy. The Author follows Winnicott’s idea that withdrawal into fantasy can take on a dissociative quality, which is structured early on as a defensive solution following the loss of hope in object relations. Such defence becomes the foundation for a dangerous enclave in…