Houston Psychoanalytic Society

This event addresses: Study Group – Conflict: Various Psychoanalytic Perspectives

From its beginning, psychoanalysis has been defined as a psychology of conflict. As such, conflict is considered ubiquitous and unavoidable, central to the formation of human character and maladaptive symptoms. Freud’s tripartite structure of id, ego, and superego, and the subsequent development of modern conflict theory, made conflict the center of inner life. The understanding of psychic conflict became the goal of therapeutic action. As the scope of psychoanalysis broadened and various schools of thought evolved, our views of mental conflict also changed. This study group will examine the major schools of psychoanalytic thought with regard to their perspectives of inner conflict—its origins, nature, role in character development and psychopathology, and clinical implications.

This study group is intended for clinicians with an intermediate to advanced level of knowledge about psychoanalytic theory. We will utilize readings, discussion, and case examples in exploring inner conflict from the concepts of classical psychoanalysis, ego psychology, Kleinian theory, object relations, self psychology, intersubjectivity, and relational psychoanalysis. These viewpoints are summarized in readings by renowned scholars and clinicians from the various schools of thought. Group participants must obtain the textbook that we will use, Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Conflict, edited by Christopher Christian, Morris Eagle, and David Wolitzky (Routledge, 2017).