29th Annual Day in Psychoanalysis

OEDIPUS TODAY

Saturday, April 22, 2023, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Cost: $159

Open to all by registration.

** DISTANCE PARTICIPATION ONLY – This event will be conducted online.

Preregistration is required.
Registration deadline: April 11, 2023

Oedipus in Contemporary Psychoanalysis

Presenter: Nancy Kulish, PhD

Discussant: Joshua Levy, PhD, CPsych

The concept of the Oedipal complex is under attack in contemporary psychoanalysis. The presenter will examine the implications for our understandings of the importance of the Oedipal complex in terms of societal changes in patriarchal family structure, the current emphasis on pre-Oedipal or early development, such as attachment, separation and affect regulation, and contemporary theories of gender. Clinical case material will be presented which addresses the question of whether concepts about Oedipal or triadic conflicts are still useful and how they are related to these developments.

Paternal Presence in the Changing Western World

Presenter: Heribert Blass, MD

Discussant: Daniel Traub-Werner, MD

The Oedipus conflict in the context of the child’s psychic development between mother and father is one of the core concepts of psychoanalysis. Freud placed the prohibitions of the Oedipal father, which promote mental maturation, at the center of his theory. In recent years, however, the Oedipus complex has become less prominent. In this presentation, that is based on the unfolded triadic space in the mental life of the child, the role of the father in creating and keeping triadic mental structures will be described. For this purpose, results of current research in developmental psychology, concepts of psychoanalytical gender theory over the last years and a new view of the classical concept of the “dead father” are contrasted. The libidinizing and as well the contrasting tasks of the father, including the role of the paternal body, are subsumed by the term “anti-incestuous position” and this will be illustrated by a clinical example.

Program

9:00 am – 9:15 am – Welcome/Introductions

9:15 am – 10:00 am – Nancy Kulish: Oedipus in Contemporary Psychoanalysis

10:00 am – 10:15 am – Joshua Levy (Discussant)

10:15 am – 10:30 am – Break

10:30 am – 11:15 am – Open discussion for audience

11:15 am – 12:15 pm – Lunch

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm – Heribert Blass: Paternal Presence in the Changing Western World

1:00 pm – 1:15 pm – Dan Traub Werner (Discussant)

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm – Break

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm – Open discussion for audience

2:15 pm – 2:45 pm – Open discussion for audience and panel

2:45 pm – 3:00 pm – Closing Comments

Annual Day Committee

Les Fleischer, PhD, RSW, FIPA, Chair
Madhu Vallabhaneni, MD, FRCPC, Co-Chair
Cyril Levitt, PhD, RP
Irwin Kleinman, MD, FRCPC

Nancy Kulish, PhD

Speaker Nancy Kulish, PhD is Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Wayne State Medical School and Adjunct Professor of Psychology, University of Detroit/Mercy. She is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, where she was past president. She was chosen as the National Woman Psychoanalytic Scholar for 2005 of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Currently she is on the editorial boards of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. She has published and presented on topics ranging from female sexuality, gender, transference/countertransference, adolescence to termination. With Deanna Holtzman, she is the co-author of the 2008 book, A Story of Her Own, The Female Oedipus Complex Re-examined and Renamed and most recently, The Clinical Problem of Masochism. She is in private practice in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Heribert Blass, MD

Speaker Heribert Blass, MD is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst for adults, children and adolescents, and is also a specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, and Psychiatry. He is a member of the German Psychoanalytic Association (DPV) and the IPA. He is president of the European Psychoanalytic Federation (EPF). He has published several articles on male identity and sexuality, the image of the father in human mental life, the relation between internal and external reality, and on supervision in psychoanalytic education. He works in private practice in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Joshua Levy, PhD, CPsych

Discussant Joshua Levy, PhD, CPsych. is the most senior Training and Supervising Analyst at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and is on the faculty of The Toronto Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. He is the recipient of the Otto Weininger Memorial Award for lifetime achievement, given by the Canadian Psychological Association and the Hans Loewald Memorial Award. He has published on learning to understand and work with dreams during the analytic process, learning to appreciate multiple analytic perspectives, and was involved in day long workshops on analytic listening. At present he is guiding a study group on psychoanalytic supervision.

Daniel Traub-Werner, MD

Discussant Daniel Traub-Werner, MD, is a senior Supervising and Training analyst with the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. He has published papers in leading psychoanalytic journals on prejudice, affect deficit, and perversion. He has a particular interest in metapsychology, psychoanalytic technique, and psychoanalytic education. He held administrative positions in the IPA, the Canadian Institute of Psychoanalysis, and the TPS&I. Presently, he is the Chair of the Curriculum Committee and chairs the National Joint Committee at the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society.