WASHINGTON CENTER FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS PSP CURRICULUM Course: The Mind in Conflict Time and Dates: Tuesday, 4:00-5:15pm April 16th, 23rd, 30th, May 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th 2019 Instructors: Rosa Aurora Chavez, MD, PhD (202)243-0595 [email protected] Jennifer Unterberg, PhD (214)770-5030 [email protected] During this course we will review classical and contemporary psychoanalytic views of the nature of conflict and the place it has in clinical work. Everyone is expected to read all the materials every week and to participate in a seminar discussion. We have provided you with some key questions for every article for you to reflect before each class. They will guide our seminar discussions. Connections to the clinical work and to other theoretical and practical domains are encouraged. Learning objectives: 1. The student will be able to assess conflict using diverse psychoanalytic perspectives. 2. The student will be able to assess more accurately the degree to which the patient's difficulties are more based on conflict or on developmental deficits. 3. The student will be able to treat patients more effectively by being able to distinguish between the role of conflict and the role of deficit in the patient's disorder and the different available therapeutic approaches. Specific learning objectives for each class session follows the readings list . 1. 4/16/19 Classic conflict theory and defense mechanisms a) Eagle, M. (2017). Inner Conflict in Freudian Theory. In Christian, C., Eagle, M., & Woltisky, D. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict. New York: Routledge, NY: 2017. • What is inner conflict in Freudian theory? • What are others forms of conflict in Freudian theory? b) Nancy McWilliams (2011): “Primary Defensive Processes” and “Secondary Defensive Processes.” In Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Second Edition. Pp. 100-150. • What are the defining features of primitive defenses vs higher order defenses? Is this classification useful? • What is the relation between defenses and personality structure? • McWilliams does not view herself as a theoretician, but a synthesizer. Does her description of all the mentioned defenses add to your understanding of defense mechanisms? How does it relate to what has been described in our previous readings, such as Ogden’s chapters on Melanie Klein? 2. 4/23/19 Modern Conflict Theory; Brenner and Compromise Formation a) Christian, C. (2017). The Evolution of Modern Conflict Theory. In Christian, C., Eagle, M., & Woltisky, D. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict. New York: Routledge, NY: 2017. • What are the major revisions and challenges of ego psychology that culminated in modern conflict theory? • What makes these revisions important? b) Brenner (2002). “Conflict, Compromise Formation, and Structural Theory.” Psa. Q. 71: 397-417. • What are the differences between Freud's theory of conflict and Brenner's theory of conflict, and what are the clinical implications? • What does Brenner mean when he talks about the ubiquity of compromise formation? 3. 4/30/19 Conflict VS Deficit a) Jacob Arlow: “Conflict, Trauma and Deficit.” (1991) In Conflict and Compromise: Therapeutic Implications. Pp. 3-14. • Arlow concludes that Freud’s view of pathology as a product of conflict remains our most comprehensive approach to understanding problems. What leads him to believe this and do you agree? • How does Arlow define trauma? b) Fred Pine: “Some Impressions Regarding Conflict, Defect and Deficit.” (1994) Psychoanal. Study of the Child 49: 222-240. • How does Pine expand our understanding of conflict beyond intersystemic models? • What is the role of deficit VS defect? 4. 5/07/19 Conceptualizing conflict in Kleinian Theory a) Thomas Ogden: “The Paranoid-Schizoid Position: Self as Object,” and “The Depressive Position and the Birth of the Historical Subject.” In his The Matrix of the Mind: Object Relations and the Psychoanalytic Dialogue. (1986) Pp. 41-99. • How would you define the paranoid-schizoid position, and what is its relevance in development? • How could this concept be useful to our practice? • What is the principle anxiety of the depressive position and what developmental advances lead to this? • What makes conflict possible during the depressive position? b) Vorus, N. (2017). Kleinian and Post-Kleinian Perspectives on Conflict. In Christian, C., Eagle, M., & Woltisky, D. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict. New York: Routledge, NY: 2017. • Describe the modifications Klein made to Freud’s theory of conflict? • Describe Bion’s concepts of the “container and the contained.” How do these relate to Klein’s formulation of conflict? 5. 5/14/19 An approach to personal agency and conflict. a) Jaenicke, K. (2017). The phenomenological contextualism of conflict: an intersubjective perspective. In Christian, C., Eagle, M., & Woltisky, D. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict. New York: Routledge, NY: 2017. • How is conflict understood from an intersubjective viewpoint? • How traditional and intersubjective perspectives on conflict diverge or converge? b) Busch, F. (2017). A model for integrating actual neurotic or unrepresented states and symbolized aspects of intrapsychic conflict. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 86(1):75-108 • What is the relationship between neurotic and unrepresented states? • How can they be symbolized? 6. 5/21/19 Dissociation and conflict A) Bromberg, P.M. (2003). Something Wicked This Way Comes: Trauma, Dissociation, and Conflict: The Space Where Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience Overlap. Psychoanal. Psychol. , 20:558-574. • What is dissociation and what are its functions as a process and as a structure? What is the role of unsymbolized affect? • How does a person’s reliance on dissociation make it hard to work in the “here and now” and what are the treatment implications? • What is the relation between dissociation and conflict? How is this perspective different from others reviewed in class? • Bromberg points to a “remarkable convergence between cognitive and neuroscience data and interpersonal-relational psychoanalytic approach." How can we integrate these neuroscience findings to our work with patients who rely on dissociation? B) Ellman, S. (2017). Analytic trust, transference, and the importance of conflict. In Christian, C., Eagle, M., & Woltisky, D. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict. New York: Routledge, NY: 2017. • How is analytic trust established? • How do we understand conflict in the context of analytic trust? 7. 5/28/19 APPLICATION: DISCUSSION OF CONFLICT IN A WORK OF FICTION A. John Cheever: “Goodbye, My Brother” in The Stories of John Cheever. If you click on "Look Inside" above the image of the book you'll be able to see the story. Which theory (ies) of conflict can you apply to this story? WASHINGTON CENTER FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS Learning Objectives Course: The Mind in Conflict Time and Dates: Tuesday, 4:00-5:15pm April 16th, 23rd, 30th, May 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th 2019 Instructors: Rosa Aurora Chavez, MD, PhD (202)243-0595 [email protected] Jennifer Unterberg, PhD (214)770-5030 [email protected] During this course we will review classical and contemporary psychoanalytic views of the w of conflict and the place it has in clinical work. Everyone is expected to read all the materials every week and to participate in a seminar discussion. We have provided you with some key questions for every article for you to reflect before each class. They will guide our seminar discussions. Connections to the clinical work and to other theoretical and practical domains are encouraged. General Learning objectives: 1. The student will be able to assess conflict using diverse psychoanalytic perspectives. 2. The student will be able to assess more accurately the degree to which the patient's difficulties are more based on conflict or on developmental deficits. 3. The student will be able to treat patients more effectively by being able to distinguish between the role of conflict and the role of deficit in the patient's disorder and the different available therapeutic approaches. Learning objectives by class: 1. 4/16/19 Classic conflict theory and defense mechanisms a) The student will be able to identify conflict as a core concept in the psychoanalytic theory and praxis b) The student will be able to describe how conflict is understood in Freudian theories c) The student will be able to identify the defining features of primitive defenses vs higher order defenses, debating the usefulness of this classification. d) The student will be able to identify these defenses in diverse clinical and hypothetical scenarios. 2. 4/23/19 Modern Conflict Theory; Brenner and Compromise Formation a) The student will be able to describe how conflict is understood from the ego psychology structural perspective b) The student will be able to identify the major revisions and challenges of ego psychology that culminated in modern conflict theory c) The student will be able to identify what Brenner called the ubiquity of compromise formation and its clinical implications. 3. 4/30/19 Conflict VS Deficit a) The student will be able to debate Arlow’s conclusion that Freud’s view of pathology as a product of conflict remains our most comprehensive approach to understanding problems. d) The student will be able to identify the role of trauma and its interactions with conflict e) The student will be able to integrate diverse models of conflict using Pine’s pluralistic approach. f) The student will be able to debate the role of deficit and defect 4. 5/07/19 Conceptualizing conflict in Kleinian Theory a) The student will be able to define the paranoid-schizoid position and its developmental and clinical relevance. b) The student will be able to define the depressive position and its developmental and clinical relevance. c) The student will be able to describe the modifications Klein made to Freud’s theory of conflict. d) The student will be able to describe Bion’s concepts of the “container and the contained” In relation to conflict. 5. 5/14/19 An approach to personal agency and conflict. a) The student will be able to describe how is conflict understood from an intersubjective viewpoint.