Psychoanalytic Association of New York

In this 90 minute offering, Dr. Attwell will introduce the class to the didactic similarities and differences between individual and group psychoanalysis as well as how they can work in effective tandem. CE.

In this era of increasing recognition that most individuals who enter our consulting rooms are struggling with symptoms that mark developmental impasses, we encounter bright individuals who appear to have the capacity for reflective thought but there is often insufficient grounding in integrating thoughts and feelings to learn from experience. In that context, adaptive efforts […]

Scholars like Sir James Fraser, Erich Neumann, Joseph Campbell, Will Durant and most Biblical Scholars of the19th and early 20th centuries wrote persuasive stories about the meanings of the figurines found by archeologists studying Prehistory, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. These scholars argued that the figurines represented mother goddesses, fertility, and perfect images of elite […]

This paper deals with the problem of reversibility and the limitations of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy for the severely traumatized patient. The repetition compulsion is understood as failing reparation of the damaged internal world. Two clinical cases are presented to discuss the problem of working through mourning and guilt. Final considerations address the role of remembering […]

57th ANNIVERSARY FREUD LECTURE: The Revolution in North American Psychoanalysis: Enhancement or Betrayal The question asked in this paper is whether the various modifications taking place over the past 50 years are enhancing or undermining the core of psychoanalysis - namely the assumption that there are unconscious mental processes, a theory of resistance and repression, […]

This seminar will present basic tenets of theory and practice in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, including a consideration of the differences between the two. The first half of the seminar will include fundamental psychoanalytic and psychodynamic concepts, as well as psychoanalytic models of the mind, of development, and of technique. The second half of the seminar […]

The 2 recent explosions within the Program Committee and then within the American Psychoanalytic Association are examined, from an insider’s perspective, as analysts’ difficulties with listening to each other. Analysts’ anxiety with erotic excitement, especially with racial erotics, even when used for self-affirmation, is discussed. So too is the need for Othering and the need […]

Self-defeating behaviors are present to some degree in every psychodynamic treatment. We will explore ways in which sadomasochism manifests, particularly in the transference/countertransference arena. The developmental roots and psychodynamic underpinnings will be illuminated through clinical examples. A contemporary understanding via Neuropsychoanalysis will explore self-defeating behavior as a problem with the PLAY instinct, leading to impairment […]