312: Nonverbal Communications
Instructors
Jessica Wolman, Ph.D.
Susanna Stephens, Ph.D.
May 11 – June 22, 2026
Mondays, 7:00 – 8:25 pm
No class: 5/25
Co-requisites
Candidates must have or have had at least two cases in supervised psychoanalysis to be eligible for upper level courses.
Course Description
This course will explore the various manifestations and meanings of embodiment, sensory experiences, and nonverbal communications in the psychoanalytic encounter. We will employ Freud’s (1923) notion of the ego as “first and foremost a body ego” as a jumping off point to launch into questions around what it feels like to have a body, experiences of sensory integration / disintegration, and how we as analysts might develop a well-honed listening instrument for nonverbal communications in the psychoanalytic encounter. Some elements will include: mind-body dissociation, somatization and symbolization, unconscious and preverbal knowledge, sensory disruptions and integration, and nonverbal analytic functions including holding, containing and dreaming.
Educational Objectives
- Describe the concepts of dissociation, sensory integration, and preverbal experience.
- Explain the differences between the diverse theoretical understandings of these concepts.
Evaluation Method
Each student’s participation in class discussion and his or her demonstration of understanding of the course objectives and reading material is assessed in a written evaluation by the instructor(s).
These articles are protected under relevant copyright regulations. They are available in the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Electronic Reserve for your convenience, and for your personal use.
CLASS 1: May 11, 2026
Bick, Esther. (1968). The Experience of the Skin in Early Object-Relations (1968) in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, (49): 484-486.
Anzieu, D. Trans Naomi Segal. (1995, 2016). The Skin Ego. Chapter 3 The Notion of a SKin-Ego & Chapter 5 The Psychogensis of the Skin-Ego
May 18
Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self (1960) in Winnicott, D. W. (1965) The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development 64:1-11
June 1
Peter Goldberg paper
Goldberg, P. (2023) Analytic Framing and Shared Psychosensory Experience. Fort Da 29:17-35
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Goldberg, P. (2004) Fabricated bodies: A model for the somatic false self. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 85:823-840
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Goldberg, P. (1995) “Successful” Dissociation, Pseudovitality, and Inauthentic Use of the Senses. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 5:493-510
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June 8
Bromberg, P. M. (1996) Standing in the Spaces: The Multiplicity Of Self And The Psychoanalytic Relationship. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 32:509-535
Ogden, T. H. (1988) On the Dialectical Structure of Experience—Some Clinical and Theoretical Implications. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 24:17-45
Ogden, T. H. (1989) On the Concept of an Autistic-Contiguous Position. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 70:127-140
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June 15
Blum, A. Potential Time. (2026). The Music of Potential Space. in Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Vol 95, 111-141.
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June 22
Bruce Reis’s paper
Reis, B. (2021). The analyst’s listening: for, to, with. in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, (102)(2): 219-235.
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