Why Do Psychoanalysts Insist on the Unconscious?
Please find attached details of a conference on Saturday 9th February by the Institute of Psychiatry.
Saturday 9th February 2008, 9.00am to 5pm
Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
WHY DO PSYCHOANALYSTS INSIST
ON THE UNCONSCIOUS?
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
9.15
Introduction by Chair
9.30 - 10.15 Mrs M. Rustin:
“Withstanding the Storm – the child psychotherapist at work”
(then 15 mins for Qs)
10.30 - 11.15
Coffee
11.15 - 12.00 Dr M.Target:
“The unconscious and professional choices: personal meaning at work'”
(then 15 mins for Qs)
12.30 - 2.00
Lunch
2.00 - 2.45 Dr C Van Velsen:
” Understanding Destructiveness “
(then 15 mins for Qs)
3.00 - 3.30
Coffee
3.30 - 4.15 Dr A. Obholzer :
Title TBA (then 15 mins for Qs)
4.30 - 5.00 Plenary (all speakers)
Conference Theme
The conference will focus on ways in which the concept of ‘the unconscious’ informs, enriches, and indeed is essential to the way in which psychoanalysts work. However, the ‘unconscious’ does not belong to psychoanalysis but, we believe, exists whether or not it is acknowledged. What psychoanalysis adds is a method for recognizing, understanding and working with unconscious motivation that can otherwise wreak havoc both for us as individuals and for the organizations in which we work. This is perhaps especially relevant to the NHS and other organizations in which disturbance is concentrated, so that the unconscious pulls to act out are correspondingly greater. Our speakers have been chosen to represent broad areas in which this is the case, and will inform us both generally and from their own clinical or personal experience how they see these concepts lived out.
Speakers
Mrs Margaret Rustin is a Consultant Child Psychotherapist and Head of Child Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic; she is also an Honorary affiliate of the British Psychoanalytic Society. She has published in the fields of psychoanalytic observation, clinical practice in child psychotherapy and in the psychoanalytic exploration of children’s literature and classic drama. She will speak about clinical work with children who have been adopted.
Dr Mary Target is a Psychoanalyst and Clinical Psychologist. She is Reader in Psychoanalysis at UCL, and Professional Director of the Anna Freud Centre, London, as well as the organizer of a number of doctorate programs. She will speak about how she gradually became aware of the pressure of the unconscious in her clinical work, and will describe how it informed and guided her career from CBT-based work to her current immersion in psychoanalysis.
Dr Cleo Van Velsen is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy and a Psychoanalyst working in the John Howard Centre (a medium-secure unit) in East London, thus she works almost exclusively with patients in whom acting out is a major difficulty. It is particularly interesting to see how analytic concepts can be applied in this group of patients, and she will focus in her talk on understanding destructiveness. Dr Van Velsen trained in psychotherapy and was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy at the Maudsley Hospital. She is co-author of A Practical Guide to Forensic Psychotherapy.
Dr Anton Obholzer is a Senior Consultant in the Tavistock Consultancy Service, and former Chief Executive of the Tavistock Clinic. His background is in psychiatry; he is a also a Child and Adult psychoanalyst, now specializing in organizational dynamics. He has a long and wide experience of consulting to organizations and businesses, both healthy and in trouble, as well as writing and teaching widely in this area. His special interests are leadership and the management of change at times of stress and turbulence.
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