Dreams and Affects
The Analytic Field in the Psychotherapy Session
Recorded Friday 25 March 2022
With Giuseppe Civitarese, Elena Molinari, Fulvio Mazzacane and Andrea Sabbadini
CPD Credits: 3.5 hours
At this event, our presenters will take us into the realms of new thinking about some of the more elusive dimensions of the psychoanalytic encounter, from the waking dream to embodied sensations. Drawing in part on the original theories of Wilfred Bion, James Grotstein, and Madeleine and Willy Baranger’s seminal contributions to contemporary psychoanalysis, our speakers will push our understanding of why these theories are so important in the psychoanalytic process.
READ MORE...It will be suggested that our psyche is constantly engaged in dreaming, even when we are awake. This activity allows for the discharge of ‘excesses of sensoriality and proto-emotions’ and is precisely what analytic therapy should facilitate. By exploring features of dreaming, Ferro’s theoretical model shifts from a psychoanalysis of contents to one which focuses on the development of the patient’s capacity for thinking and dreaming. Ferro’s work draws upon rich clinical material to illustrate how patient and analyst, by sharing a basic unconscious phantasy, structure an ‘oneiric, holographic field’ that is a function of their own inner lives. Our speakers Fulvio Mazzacane and Elena Molinari will elaborate on their own and Ferro’s thinking in this area.
Giuseppe Civitarese, with reference to the concept of Negative Capability and the post-Bionian theory of the Analytic Field, will elaborate the difficult-to-define, yet important terms of ‘vitality’ and ‘authenticity’. These relate to non-specific aspects of treatment including the importance of who the analyst is and what this might mean for the therapeutic couple. By rediscovering the dreamlike dimension of the session, the analyst will realise that they are always a character in the stories of the analysis and an active dreamer in the session too.
CPD – Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for 3.5 hours are available as part of the course fee. You will need to pass a multiple choice questionnaire related to the content in order to receive your certificate.
Access to the Talks On Demand runs for 365 days from the date of purchase.
FULL PROGRAMME
Giuseppe Civitarese
Vitality as a Theoretical and Technical Parameter in Psychoanalysis
Terms such as vitality and authenticity are difficult to define. Moreover, these terms cannot be considered true psychoanalytic concepts. If, however, psychoanalysis tries to theorise in a more fine-grained manner the non-specific aspects of treatment, such as those related to the analyst, it becomes inevitable that we refer to them. Civitarese will suggest that vitality can be transformed into a precise psychoanalytic concept if we discuss it in light of Bion’s concept of negative capability and the post- Bionian theory of the analytic field. Every time the analyst rediscovers the dreamlike dimension of the session itself, via their own embodied experience, the effect is to be revitalized and to reinvest in the patient, the analysis, and the psychoanalytic method. Civitarese will illuminate how this comes about in clinical practice.
Q&A
Elena Molinari
Dream to grow up
Bion’s ideas are based on the development of the capacity to dream and his theory goes beyond a division of development into stages. Children who failed to develop the basic functions of mind and thinking are trapped in a world of concrete entities or manifest symptoms as relational difficulties, cognitive inhibition, or problematic social behavior. The field theory approach to therapy involves the restoration of the capacity to dream by means of various techniques including the use of aesthetic and sensorial aspects of experience and reverie and the co-construction of interactions, games, or drawings particularly with children. These techniques enable the expansion of the waking dream functions and therefore the mapping of expansion or contraction of the emotional integration of the patient
Q&A
Fulvio Mazzacane
External reality, use of characters and reverie in the construction of narrative function
In this talk, our speaker will present part of the analysis of a young woman. From the first meeting to the moment when within the analytic field emerges a capacity whereby the analytic couple can co-construct original narratives. Mazzacane will address an important aspect of Bion-Field Theory, namely, the way in which the analyst attempts to recreate an atmosphere where the ‘waking dream’ is influenced by the historical reality and trauma. Mazzacane will consider the development of the narrative function alongside the use of characters and reverie in the session. The talk will demonstrate how developments in the patient’s narrative may be of particular interest to the analyst and his clinical work.
Q&A
Panel Discussion with Q&A