Sharon Weller

Eyes Wide Shut: A Psychoanalytic Investigation

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  •  April 17, 2019
     7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

A.A. Brill Library Event:

Eyes Wide Shut: A Psychoanalytic Investigation

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Presenter: Mary Wild

The Friends of the Brill Library are pleased to present “Eyes Wide Shut: A Psychoanalytic Investigation” with Mary Wild. During this presentation, Ms. Wild will discuss Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wild Shut and present clips from the film.

Eyes Wide Shut is an erotic drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick – released in 1999, it is the final feature he completed before dying that same year at the age of 70. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story), it depicts the ambivalent role of extra-marital fantasies revealed by a woman to her husband in a seemingly happy relationship. One would be forgiven to suspect that, over the course of his career, Kubrick was working his way to an investigation of female desire by first tackling less daunting subjects in earlier works (e.g., war, outer space, ultraviolence and horror)!

Starring the then-still-married actors Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Eyes Wide Shut presents dark motifs of jealousy and sexual obsession, although Kubrick intended the film as a “hopeful” story about commitment and monogamous fidelity. The title is a reference to remarks made by Benjamin Franklin: “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards” – a shorthand for a pragmatic attitude in terms of viewing a spouse’s inner life.

A pattern formed with the emergence of new Kubrick films; baffled critics angrily dismissed his vision, but the equalizing forces of word-of-mouth among audiences ensured that a cult following developed around his masterful cinema. Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian, was one of Eyes Wide Shut’s biggest detractors, referring to it as “a grotesque, vulgar, preposterous flop that embarrassingly damages one of the most unimpeachable reputations in world cinema.” While The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael raised herself from retirement to declare the film “a piece of crap.”

This lecture will interpret Eyes Wide Shut from a psychoanalytic perspective, relying on theoretical concepts such as the uncanny, primal scene, feminine jouissance, Eros, and Thanatos to approach the infuriating enigma of marital eroticism. On the 20th anniversary of Kubrick’s death coinciding with the film’s release, we will reflect back on the initial outraged response of film reviewers, and identify the director’s recurring iconic themes that, in a present-day appraisal, stand the test of time.

No CME or CE credits offered.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Her interests include cinematic representations of mental illness, doppelgangers and the unconscious in the genres of horror, science fiction and documentary. Mary also co-hosts a film podcast on iTunes: PROJECTIONS Podcast.

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Sharon Weller

Works in Progress Seminar: Mind and Consciousness

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  •  April 3, 2019
     8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Works in Progress Seminar:

“Mind and Consciousness”

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

8:00 pm

Presenter: Terence Rogers, Ph.D.

With the larger aim of formulating a model of the human mind that acts as a bridge between clinicians and neuroscientists, we suggest that it is possible to clarify some of the questions that have vexed psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking for a long time. Two examples, “What is a Mind”, and, “What is Consciousness” will be addressed and their connection to topics such as awareness, subjectivity and attention will be touched on. We shall also address Chalmer’s “Hard Problem”, and initiate a discussion on the way in which classic Freudian models of the mind can be interpreted within these conceptions. We will not address therapeutic techniques, except in a very general sense.

No CME or CE credits offered. 

Dr. Rogers holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University (UK) in the Theory of Elementary Particle Physics, and a B.Sc., also from Cambridge, in Natural Sciences (1st Class Honors). He was then awarded a Harkness Fellowship to carry out research at Princeton and Berkeley Universities.  He left academia and worked for IBM from 1970 to 1990, becoming a Group Director, and from 1990 to 1999 he held executive positions in several software companies, including being CEO of a (failed) Internet startup.  In 1999 he was asked to lead a national project to build an alternative Internet, which was announced at the White House and became the most powerful network in the world.  Subsequently, Dr. Rogers became President and CEO of the International ThinkQuest Foundation an initiative for engaging 100,000 teenagers around the world in creating educational websites for other students.  Between 2006 and 2012 Dr. Rogers worked on a proposal to redesign our K-12 Public School System, and his book “Fifty Million Futures” is to be published imminently.  In 2013, he became Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where his research is devoted to applying his knowledge of complex systems to studying models of the mind.

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Sharon Weller

Special Event: Is the Alliance Really Therapeutic?

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  •  May 9, 2019
     8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Special Event:

Is the Alliance Really Therapeutic? Revisiting This Question in Light of Recent Empirical Studies

Thursday, May 9, 2019

8:00 – 10:00 pm

Presenter: Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Ph.D.

Discussant: Michele Press, M.D.

The therapeutic value of alliance is a contested supposition. Although many theorists and researchers believe that alliance is therapeutic in itself, others see it as a byproduct of effective treatment or as a common non-specific factor enabling the truly effective ingredients of treatment to work. For many years, the debate was confined mainly to the domain of theory, and no studies were available to examine this issue. The only empirical evidence that existed was studies showing a correlation between alliance and outcome, and advocates of the above conflicting opinions used the same correlation to prove the validity of their position. Over the last few years, however, a revolution has taken place in alliance research, which brings this theoretical debate into the realm of the empirical. Recent alliance studies have applied advanced methodologies to achieve this aim. Based on an integration of these studies, a new model for understanding the potential therapeutic role of alliance as sufficient to induce change by itself emerges. The model stresses the importance of differentiating between patients’ general tendencies to form satisfying relationships with others, which affect also the relationship with the therapist (“trait-like” component of alliance), and the process of the development of changes in such tendencies through interaction with the therapist (“state-like” component of alliance). The former enables treatment to be effective; the latter makes alliance therapeutic. Based on the most recent literature, the presentation attempts to determine which of these components is the predictor of treatment outcome. 

2 CME/CE credits offered. 

Dr. Zilcha-Mano is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Healthy Aging and Late Life Brain Disorders Program, Columbia University. She heads the Psychotherapy Research Lab in the Department of Psychology, University of Haifa.

Michele Press, M.D. is President and Training and Supervising Analyst at NYPSI where she also co-teaches advanced psychoanalytic technique. She is clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center where she teaches a course on advanced psychodynamic technique to PGY-3 residents in psychiatry.

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

  1. Describe the most recent research on alliance.
  2. Consider the implications of the new knowledge for day-to-day clinical practice.
  3. Identify the specific strategies to strengthen the alliance and affect treatment outcome.
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

Brill Memorial Lecture: The False Procrustean Myth of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute

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

The 60th Brill Memorial Lecture: The False Procrustean Myth of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

8:00 – 10:00 pm

Presenter and Honoree: Michael Porder, M.D.

Additional Participants: Sander Abend, M.D., Theodore Jacobs, M.D., Albert Sax, M.D., Martin Willick, M.D.

In this presentation, Dr. Porder will describe the dramatic changes in NYPSI’s psychoanalytic curriculum over the past 50 years. He will give credit to the numerous members who have contributed to the scientific growth of the Institutes’s theoretical and technical practices.  Four senior analysts – Sander Abend, Theodore Jacobs, Albert Sax, and Martin Willick – will speak to how these changes have impacted their clinical work.

A Reception will follow the lecture. 

No CME/CE credits offered.

Michael Porder, M.D.  is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. He was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1965-1990; Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine from 1990-2000; and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1965 -1990. He has published extensively on borderline conditions, and co-edited (with Sander M. Abend and Martin S. Willick) Borderline Patients: Psychoanalytic Perspectives. He was a member of the editorial board of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and was the Brill Lecturer in 1996.  He has been a member of CAPS since 1983.

Sander Abend, M.D.  is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. He served as the editor of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly from 1985-1991 and currently serves as an associate editor. He was the Brill Lecturer in 1988.

Theodore Jacobs, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Adult, Child and Adolescent Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.  He is currently on the editorial boards of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly and Psychoanalytic Inquiry. Among his many publications are The Use of the Self: Countertransference and Communication in the Analytic Situation, The Possible Profession and a novel, The Year of Durocher. He was the Brill Lecturer in 1993.

Albert Sax, M.D.  is a Training and Supervising Adult, Child and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. In 1999 he received the Brenner Teaching Award. He chaired the Progression Committee and also served as President of the Society from 1999-2001.

Martin Willick, M.D.  is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.  He served on the editorial board of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly. He has published and taught courses on Schizophrenia and Paranoid Disorders as well as Depressive States. He was the Brill Lecturer in 1991.

The Brill Memorial Lecture honors the many contributions to psychoanalysis of A.A. Brill (1874-1948), the founder of the New York Psychoanalytic Society in 1911. Although the lecture series was founded in 1950, it was decided to retroactively recognize as the first A.A. Brill Memorial Lecture the paper given by Clarence P. Oberndorf, “Development of Psychoanalysis in America” on the occasion of the A.A. Brill Memorial meeting on March 29, 1949. Brill lecturers have included Sander Abend, Jacob Arlow, Siegfried Bernfeld, Peter Blos, Sr., Heinz Kohut, Margaret Mahler, Annie Reich, and Robert Waelder.

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Sharon Weller

Dr. Bennett Roth on Violence

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

Works in Progress Seminar:

“Dr. Bennett Roth on Violence”

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

8:00 pm

Presenter: Bennett Roth, Ph.D.

Dr. Roth’s interest in violence was awakened by the limited devastation of the 9/11 attack in New York City that he viewed. Three responses emerged as he worked with people near the WTC site. His psychological responses were enhanced by his prior psychoanalytic treatment of a man who claimed he killed someone as a child and Dr. Roth formulated the following questions: 1) How did they motivate people to kill unarmed/innocent people? 2) Was there a dynamic link between the interest in survivors as victims and turning away from the perpetrators?

After immersing himself in the enormous literature of the Nazi period, he painfully reflected on the absence of clinical theory concerning violence until recently. This included the dynamics of mass (state directed) murder. Psychoanalytic theory of individuals and groups offered no frame or path to understand the attempts to exterminate the European Jews. Is there a different development progression of violent individuals than offered by classical psychoanalytic theory’s narrow perspective of development and sexuality? If forms of self-interested violence had to be suppressed for collective safety when large social groups were formed, what were the conditions for its appearance in individual and mass violence? The mystery deepened for him and the answers were slow to be revealed. Despite the voluminous literature on the Holocaust and the killing fields of wars, there was an absence of psychoanalytic interest in “killing” and murder until recently. Is there a scotoma for violence and harm?

One deeper psychoanalytic explanation is found in Bion’s concept of hallucinosis. “Hallucinosis” is a term coined by Wilfred Bion in “Transformations” (1965) to denote the psychic act of the ”normal” unconscious part of the personality that transforms an object in reality into useable information. It is a powerful idea of Bion’s and offers an explanation that a false belief can exist in a relatively functional individual or individuals that transforms them and their environment in accord with a focal delusion. Malevolence, danger or an exalted idea is then assigned to a real external entity that becomes a source of threat. Individuals then react to their imaginary threat with violence to remove it. Dr. Roth believes this pattern appears in a wide range of violent behavior, from the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting to mass genocide.

No CME or CE credit offered.

Bennett Roth received his Ph.D. at NYU. He was certified in both psychoanalysis and group therapy. He has written frequently on Bion and on films such as “Lord of the Flies,” “Schindler’s List,”  “Son of Saul,” “The Act of Killing,” and the depiction of violence in Western movies. He also published Getting Away with Murder concerning his analytic treatment of a man who “killed someone” as a child.  Recently he published a book on A Group Analytic Approach to Understanding Mass Violence: The Holocaust, Group Hallucinosis and False Beliefs (Routledge, 2018).

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