2017
February 20th
Valerie Sinason - Disability and Dissociation: unwanted clinical populations.
Having worked for years as a disability therapist, Valerie encountered dissociation and particularly Dissociative Identity Disorder. Whilst looking at the ingredients that form DID as well as clinical and theoretical issues Valerie will examine and discuss at what unwanted populations have in common.
VALERIE SINASON PhD is a poet, writer, child and adult psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst. She is Founder of the Clinic for Dissociative Studies , President of the Institute for Psychotherapy and Disability, and an Hon Consultant Psychotherapist at Cape Town Child Guidance Clinic. In 2016 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
May 15th
Craig Newnes - The Harmful Side of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
To the extent that we now talk of depression and anxiety rather than sadness and fear, Psy can be seen as winning. This talk asks whether the harm caused by emphasising interiority rather than context outweighs the benefits of psychiatry and psychology.
Dr. CRAIG NEWNES is a consulting critical psychologist, ex director of the Department of Psychological Therapy for Shropshire's NHS Mental Health Trust, ex Chair of the BPS Psychotherapy Section and, as editor of Clinical Psychology Forum, the longest serving member of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology executive committee. He trained as a clinicaI psychologist with further training in psychoanalysis, psychodrama and personal construct therapy and is currently the editor of the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy. He has won two human rights awards for speaking out about Psy and has published over 100 papers and seven books in the area of the practice and history of Psy's iniquities.
July 10
Marcus West Early Relational Trauma and Borderline States of Mind with Marcus West
This talk will concentrate on the clinical experience of working with people with borderline personality organisations. It will explore how early relational trauma underlies borderline states of mind, and how trauma-related patterns of relating become co-constructed in the analytic relationship. These present both analyst and patient with extremely distressing, conflictual, and frequently unbearable dynamics that, if not addressed compassionately and effectively, can lead to impasse and the breakdown of the analytic relationship. An updated understanding of Jung's concept of the complex can help understand these dynamics and dilemmas and facilitate their working through, if the analyst is prepared to accompany the patient 'into the darkest places'.
MARCUS WEST is a training analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology. He has recently published his third book, 'Into the Darkest Places - Early Relational Trauma and Borderline States of Mind' (2016); his two previous books, also published by Karnac, were 'Understanding Dreams in Clinical Practice' (2011) and 'Feeling, Being and the Sense of Self' (2007). He has also published a number of papers, one of which won the Michael Fordham Prize in 2004, and contributed chapters to books. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology and has taught and lectured in this country and abroad. He is in private practice in West Sussex.
October 16th
Rabbi Howard Cooper - What's the relationship - if any - between spirituality and contemporary psychotherapeutic practice?
What do we mean by the 'wisdom' of the spiritual traditions of the West? and of the East? what is the role of storytelling and narrative in religious traditions and psychotherapy? in the search for 'truth', what is the role of the teacher/therapist in religion/therapy? what is the relationship between a 'religious' understanding of human nature and our place in the world, and a 'psychotherapeutic' understanding?
RABBI HOWARD COOPER is a graduate and Fellow of the Leo Baeck College, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice, the Director of Spiritual Development at Finchley Reform Synagogue, and a writer. He has an MA (with Distinction) in Creative Writing and Critical Theory and is the author of 'The Alphabet of Paradise: An A-Z of Spirituality for Everyday Life' . He blogs on Jewish issues and current affairs at www.howardcoopersblog.blogspot.com
