Oedipus and Anti-Oedipus: On the Circularity of a Myth

Virtual (Click on event title to advance to website and registration page)

Led by Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Goetzmann. In this presentation, I will present?theoretically?the three stages of the Oedipus complex according to Freud and Lacan. A clinical discussion will follow this. With regard to the first phallic-imaginary stage, I will make references to Laplanche's seduction theory, particularly with regard to the attribution of gender identity. I […]

Psychoanalysis and Altruistic Living Kidney Donation: Toward a Psychodynamic Understanding of Donor Motivation

Virtual (Click on event title to advance to website and registration page)

Led by Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Goetzmann. Altruism itself is underexplored in psychoanalysis. The topic's importance for learners is its investigation into a peculiar form of altruism. Living kidney donors are unusual, extreme cases in which the acceptable costs to the benefactor far exceed an acceptable threshold for most people. There are many instances of […]

Poetry and Psychoanalysis: Theory and Technique

Led by Salman Akhtar, MD. This presentation will open by discussing what poetry is in actuality. What are its components? From where does it originate? How does it exert a healing effect upon mental pain? Moving on from such issues, the presentation will highlight three links between poetry and psychoanalysis. These refer to the presence […]

Major Issues in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Technique

Led by Salman Akhtar, MD. While retaining the 'trio of guideposts' ( Pine, 1997) constituted by anonymity, abstinence, and neutrality, contemporary psychoanalysis has witnessed many changes in its theoretical base and clinical praxis. These include (1) a greater developmental orientation, (ii) a tendency to judiciously accommodate the frame to the patient's sociocultural ethos, (iii) a […]