Sharon Weller

For Want of Ambiguity: Order and Chaos in Art, Psychoanalysis, and Neuroscience

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  •  November 2, 2019
     10:00 am - 12:00 pm

The Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuropsychoanalysis:

“For Want of Ambiguity: Order and Chaos in Art, Psychoanalysis, and Neuroscience”

Saturday, November 2, 2019

10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Co-Presenters: Ludovica Lumer, Ph.D. and Lois Oppenheim, Ph.D.

Everything changes, moves, varies, appears and disappears in the environment around us and within our selves. This continual change has modelled our nervous system to extract a sort of stability out of what is not stable. The stability, as sole consolation, rescues us from the inevitability of our fate. Indeed, we adopt patterns in order to survive, we relate to people according to established behaviors that even become patterns, and we adopt defensive mechanisms that we tend to repeat over and over. But keeping possibilities alive is the matter of every creative process and of psychoanalysis itself. Art and psychoanalysis help us to overcome these constancies; they give us the freedom to choose among different possibilities of being, relating, perceiving, and interacting. We will address in this presentation the ways in which the dialogue between psychoanalysis and neuroscience sheds light on the transformational capacity of contemporary art. New questions arise in the context of such a dialogue as to the uniquely transgressive and often provocative arena in which meaning is made in art and patterns of making sense are revealed. From a neuroscientific and psychoanalytic exchange on the work of several visual artists, we will seek to uncover new ways of thinking about how insight is achieved outside the arena of certainty.

2 CME/CE credits offered. 

Ludovica Lumer, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist who earned her Ph.D. from University College London where she worked in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology conducting seminal research on the relationship between visual perception and artistic representation. She coauthored (with Lois Oppenheim) For Want of Ambiguity: Order and Chaos in Art, Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience (Bloomsbury, 2019), and (with Marta Dell’Angelo) C’è daperderci la testa: scoprire il cervello giocando con l’arte (Laterza, 2009), the first introductory book on neuroscience for children and (with Semir Zeki) La bella e la Bestia (Laterza, 2011), a book on neuroscience and contemporary art. Additionally, she has lectured for many years in the Psychology Department of Milano-Bicocca University. Dr. Lumer currently lives in New York where she is a psychoanalyst in private practice.

Lois Oppenheim, Ph.D. is University Distinguished Scholar, Professor of French, and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Montclair State University where she teaches courses in literature, medical humanities, and applied psychoanalysis. She is also Scholar Associate Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute and Honorary Member of the William Alanson White Society. Dr. Oppenheim has authored or edited fourteen books, the most recent being For Want of Ambiguity: Order and Chaos in Art, Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience (co-authored with Ludovica Lumer, Bloomsbury), Psychoanalysis and the Artistic Endeavor: Conversations with Literary and Visual Artists (Routledge), and Imagination from Fantasy to Delusion (Routledge, awarded the 2013 Courage to Dream Prize from the American Psychoanalytic Association). She is the co-creator of two documentary films on mental heath: How to Touch A Hot Stove: Thought and Behavioral Differences in a Society of Norms and Daniel, Debra, Leslie (and You?).

Educational Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  1. Compare the need for stability in contrast with the need to transcend it
  2. Demonstrate ways in which metaphors and symbols reveal the imperative of experiencing new ways of being in the world
  3. Revise the definition of order and chaos from a psychoanalytic perspective

Psychologists

New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education programs for psychologists. New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Social Workers
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0317.
Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of (2) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Important disclosure information for all learners
None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Persons with disabilities
The building is wheelchair accessible and has an elevator. Please notify the registrar in advance if you require accommodations.
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Sharon Weller

Closed Meeting: A Boy and His Bed-Ridden Mother: The Impact of Maternal Illness on a Child’s Development

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  •  November 14, 2019
     8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Please note this meeting is closed to the public. Child candidates at NYPSI, Columbia and PANY are expected to attend.

Advanced Seminar in Child and Adolescent Analysis:

“A Boy and His Bed-Ridden Mother: The Impact of Maternal Illness on a Child’s Development”

Thursday, November 14, 2019

8:00 – 10:00 pm

Presenter: Matthew Shaw, Ph.D.

Discussant: Adam Libow, M.D.

Severe parental illness not only debilitates the parent but the child for which he or she cares.  Dr. Shaw will present the case of an explosive, erratic 5 year-old boy whose mother was devastated both by breast cancer and its treatment when he was 18 months old.  Through tracing his three years in analysis, Dr. Shaw will highlight the fragmentation of the boy’s inner-world and the centrality of working with his own countertransference in order to find him emotionally.

2 CME/CE credits offered. 

Matthew Shaw, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst for children, adolescents, and adults in New Haven, CT.  He is on the clinical faculty of Yale School of Medicine and the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute.  He has published a book and numerous articles and recently presented to the Boston Group for Psychoanalytic Studies and the Association for Child Psychoanalysis.

Adam Libow, M.D. is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is currently the President of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute, where he is also on faculty. He also teaches and is on the  faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Adam has presented at the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Association for Child Psychoanalysis.  He has a private practice in Manhattan, where he sees children, adolescents, adults and parents.

Educational Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  1. describe the psychological impact of maternal illness on young children.
  2. utilize counter-transference responses in the clinical setting when working with particularly disturbed children.
Psychologists
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education programs for psychologists. New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Social Workers
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0317.
Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of (2) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Important disclosure information for all learners
None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Persons with disabilities
The building is wheelchair accessible and has an elevator. Please notify the registrar in advance if you require accommodations.
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Sharon Weller

A Courageous Trip by First Responders to Puerto Rico Following Hurricane Maria in September 2017

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  •  November 6, 2019
     8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Works in Progress Seminar:

“A Courageous Trip by First Responders to Puerto Rico Following Hurricane Maria in September 2017”

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

8:00 pm

Presenter: Dr. Edward Colt

We were 3 doctors and 6 nurses. What we found was chaos – roads destroyed, electricity gone, clean water unavailable, medical care unavailable, education unavailable.  No one was helping the local population.  We were not to drink water from the tap.  There were broken water mains, broken sewers, diarrhea, parasitic infections.  The rule was drink only bottled water.  Clean your teeth only with bottled water.  Spray with DEET to kill the mosquitos and other insects.

We divided  into 2 teams – one for San Juan and one for Arecibo, towns on the North coast of Puerto Rico.  Each day we worked to exhaustion.  Lost count of the number of patients.  Diabetes, hypertension, depression, anxiety.  Our morale and esprit de corps was high.  We realized that our efforts were inadequate and that a huge amount of work needed to be done.  Most of us came back to Puerto Rico several times.

We learned how poverty affected medical insurance in Puerto Rico and how Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy and political relationship with the U.S. government made the island vulnerable to natural disasters.

No CME or CE credits offered. 

 

Edward Colt, MB, BS, FACP graduated from University College Hospital Medical School, London, in 1962. He was Assistant Professor at Columbia University and is a Senior Attending Physician at St. Luke’s Hospital. A researcher in genetics and endocrinology, he has authored over 20 publications and peer-reviewed articles.

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Sharon Weller

Art, Art History, and Psychoanalytic Insights

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  •  November 12, 2019
     8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

NYPSI’s 1039th Scientific Program Meeting:

“Art, Art History, and Psychoanalytic Insights”

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

8:00 – 10: 00 pm

Presenter: Laurie Wilson, Ph.D.

Discussant: Lois Oppenheim, Ph.D.

Two diverse approaches to writing a psychoanalytic biography of an artist will be described. A focus on unconscious fantasy as a means of unraveling enigmas in Alberto Giacometti’s life characterized the first approach. Close attention to the artist’s behavior and the stylistic development of a signature style were crucial in making sense of Louise Nevelson’s work and life.

No CME/ CE credits offered.

 

Dr. Laurie Wilson is a psychoanalyst, art historian, and art therapist.She received psychoanalytic training at The NYU Psychoanalytic Institute and is on the faculty at PANY affiliated with NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Wilson is the U.S. Chair of 8th Triennial Symposium on Psychoanalysis and the Arts, Florence 2020; and chairs the Committee on Arts  and Psychoanalysis at the  American Psychoanalytic Association. She was awarded Honorary Life Member of the American Art Therapy Association and is Professor Emerita at New York University. She has published over 40 papers in three fields and the books Alberto Giacometti: Myth, Magic and the Man (Yale, 2003) and Louise Nevelson: Light and Shadow (Thames & Hudson, 2016.)

Dr. Lois Oppenheim is University Distinguished Scholar, Professor of French, and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Montclair State University where she teaches courses in both literature and applied psychoanalysis.  She is Scholar Associate Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute and Honorary Member of the William Alanson White Society.  Dr. Oppenheim has published over 100 papers and authored or edited fourteen books, the most recent being For Want of Ambiguity: Order and Chaos in Art, Psychoanalysis, and Neuroscience (co-authored with Dr. Ludovica Lumer) and Imagination from Fantasy to Delusion, awarded the 2013 Courage to Dream Prize from the American Psychoanalytic Association.  Other recent books include A Curious Intimacy: Art and Neuro-Psychoanalysis and The Painted Word: Samuel Beckett’s Dialogue With Art.

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Sharon Weller

Screening and Discussion of “The Lives of Others”

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  •  October 30, 2019
     7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

A.A. Brill Library Film Event:

Screening and Discussion of “The Lives of Others”

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Post-Film Discussant: Helen K. Gediman, Ph.D.

In 1984, Gerd Wiesler, secret-service Stasi operative of East Germany stalks, via videotape, the love and art of a couple whose sympathies lie with West Germany.  We, as a classically voyeuristic movie audience, are challenged to account for the sleazy political Stasi stalker’s amazing transformation  into a humane lover of the “primal scene” couple that was his quarry. Following the film presentation, Dr. Gediman will summarize her comments on the film as they appeared in her recent book Stalker, Hacker, Voyeur, Spy.

No CME or CE credits offered. 

Dr. Helen K. Gediman is Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychology at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is also Faculty, Supervising and Training Analyst at the Contemporary Freudian Society, and in full time practice in Manhattan. The writer of numerous published papers on psychoanalysis, she has also authored or co-authored five psychoanalytic books. Her latest are her selected papers, Building Bridges, and Stalker, Hacker, Voyeur, Spy. The latter is a selection of the CIPS series on The Boundaries of Psychoanalysis, a psychoanalytic study of Erotomania, Voyeurism, Surveillance, and Invasion of Privacy, and will provide the basis of her discussion of the film.

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