59th ATPPP Scientific Session: A Shimmering Landscape: the imaginative and actual in psychic life
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
Hybrid Event
Presenter: Dodi Goldman, PhD
Discussants: 4 “first responders” who will receive the images in advance along with audience participation
Saturday, October 25th, 2025: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT
Open to all by registration.
Fee: $100
Preregistration is required.
** HYBRID EVENT: Offered via Zoom or in person. In person registration is limited to 50 participants.
In person location: Toronto Psychoanalytic Society – 40 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 203 – Toronto, ON M4T 1M9
Why does the world feel one way when we are imaginatively alive to it and quite another when we are not? How does one both imagine and see things as they are? What happens when we cannot do so?
This talk uses a series of evocative visual images to explore the primary role of imaginative elaboration in psychic life and how the delicate and idiosyncratic interplay between the imaginative and actual is forged from within our earliest relationships.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation participants will be able to:
- Distinguish between imaginative elaboration and fantasy.
- Compare divergent psychoanalytic understandings of the role of the imaginative in psychic development.
- Identify the roots of imaginative life in early mother-infant relationships.
Dodi Goldman, PhD
Dodi Goldman, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute. He authored, In Search of the Real: the origins and originality of D.W. Winnicott, edited and wrote an introduction to In One’s Bones: the clinical genius of D.W. Winnicott, and is the former book review editor of the journal Contemporary Psychoanalysis. His book, A Beholder’s Share: essays on Winnicott and the psychoanalytic imagination, won the 2017 Gradiva Award for Best Psychoanalytic Book and his most recent one A Shimmering Landscape: the imaginative and actual in psychic life was published in 2025 by Routledge.
This event is eligible for Section 1 CME credits (0.5 credits/hour). This event is an accredited group learning activity (section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certificate Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, approved by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA). The specific opinions and content of this event are not necessarily those of the CPA, and are the responsibility of the organizer(s) alone. As per the Royal College standard, each presentation provides a minimum of 25% interactive learning.
Refunds must be requested in writing two weeks prior to the beginning of the event, after which fees cannot be returned. A handling fee of $30 will be retained.
For more information about and for registration in the tps&i Extension Programs, Scientific Meetings, Training Programs, Study and Supervision groups and Special Presentations, please visit our website: torontopsychoanalysis.com or email info@torontopsychoanalysis.com.