Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler, Web page template 2011

HOME Biography Private Practice Groups Workshops/ Seminars Object Relations Approach

Articles Books Argentine Tango Pictures/Video/Media Links Contact us

Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory & Technique of Psychotherapy

(Trimester 1 of the 1^st Year of All Training Programs at the ORI.

This 10-week course can be taken as a separate non-credit course. Visit www.ORINYC.org for more information)

Date and Time: Thursdays, October 6 - December 15, 2011, 8:30-9:45pm

Professor: Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NPsyA, D.Litt

Location: 115 East 9^th Street; 12P, NYC, 10003

Class 1: Introduction of the course and its readings. Clinical role-play will be offered, to illustrate the Object Relations clinical technique.

Required reading: “The Matrix of the Mind,” by Thomas H. Ogden (Jason Aronson, 1986; available on-line).

Class 2: Discussion of Chapters 1 and 2, Matrix of the Mind.

Chapter 1: The Psychoanalytic Dialogue.

Chapter 2: Instinct, Phantasy, and Psychological Deep Structure in the Work of Melanie Klein.

Topics: The concept of phantasy; Psychological deep structure; The preconception and the realization; Freud’s conception of “Inheritance of Knowledge;” The symbolic form of early phantasy activity; The role of the environment.

Class 3: Discussion on Chapters 3 and 4.

Chapter 3: The Paranoid-Schizoid Position: Self as Object.

Topics: Splitting, Early stages of integration; Splitting as discontinuity of history.

Chapter 4: The Depressive Position and the Birth of the Historical Subject.

Topics: The Transition into the Depressive Position; The development of subjectivity; The management of danger in the depressive position; The creation of history; The manic defense; The achievement of ambivalence; The depressive position and the Oedipus complex.

Class 4: Discussion on Chapter 5 and a role-play experience in class.

Chapter 5: Between the Paranoid-Schizoid and the Depressive Position.

Topics: Acute regression to the paranoid-schizoid position; A foray into the depressive position; The creation of psychic reality; Oedipal-level transference and countertransference.

Class 5: Discussion on Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: Internal object Relations.

Topics: An Object Relations theory of internal objects; Transference, countertransference, and projective identification.

Class 6: Discussion on Chapter 7.

Chapter 7: The Mother, the Infant, and the Matrix in the Work of Donald Winnicott.

Topics: The period of the subjective objects; the period of transitional phenomena, the period of whole-object relatedness.

Class 7: Discussion on Chapters 8 and 9.

Chapter 8: Potential Space.

Topics: Winnicott’s Language; The Phenomenon of Playing; Potential Space and the Dialectical Process; Psychopathology of Potential Space; The Symbol, the Symbolized, and Subjectivity; Empathy and Projective Identification.

Chapter 9: Dream Space and Analytic Space.

Topics: Dream Space; Analytic Space.

Class 8: Discussion about the article by Thomas Ogden, “Reading Susan Isaacs: Toward a radically revised theory of thinking,” in International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2011, Vol. 92, pp. 925-942.

Required reading: Article will be distributed by Dr. Kavaler-Adler.

Class 9: Discussion about the issues of symbolism and erotic transference.

Required reading: Articles by Dr. Kavaler-Adler (to be distributed by Dr. Kavaler-Adler):

· “Mourning and Erotic Transference” (International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1992, Vol. 73:3).

· “Lesbian Homoerotic Transference in Dialectic With Developmental Mourning: On the Way to Symbolism from the Protosymbolic” (Psychoanalytic Psychology, 2003).

Suggested reading: “Case of Laura,” in Susan Kavaler-Adler’s book, “Mourning, Spirituality and Psychic Change: A New Object Relations View of Psychoanalysis” (Routledge, 2003; winner of National Gradiva Award in 2004).

Class 10: Role-play demonstration intertwined with discussion of course readings.

To contact Dr. Kavaler-Adler, please call 212-674-5425 or email DrKavalerAdler@gmail.com.

Office address: 115 East 9th Street, Suite 12P; NYC, 10003

***Over 35 years Experience in Psychoanalytic/ Psychodynamic/ Object Relations Psychotherapy with Individuals, Couples, and Groups, while utilizing unique approaches to working with: ***Depression, ***Anxiety & Fears, ***OCD, ***Loss, Grief, & Mourning, ***Self-Sabotage/ Abandonment & Separation, ***Guilt & Shame, ***Trauma & PTSD, ***Relationship & Betrayal Issues, ***Divorce/ Domestic Abuse & Violence, ***Dissociative Disorders, ***Elderly Persons Disorders, ***Gay Lesbian Issues, ***Parenting issues, ***Blocked Creativity, ***Spirituality, ***Personality Disorders & Borderline Personality. ***Supportive therapeutic groups: Self-Sabotage, Fear of Success, & Fear of Envy; Developmental Mourning; and Creative Healing Writing. *** Group supervision for Mental Health practitioners: Utilizing the Object Relations approach in therapy, and Envy issues in personal and professional life of therapists.***Additional modalities utilized: Guided Psychic Visualization, Creative Writing, Life Coaching, and Dance Therapy.

Contact Dr. Kavaler-Adler: call 212-674-5425 or email DrKavalerAdler@gmail.com

Disclaimer: This site and its services, including the contents of this site are for informational purposes only. It does not
provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis or treatment.