"Desire must be taken literally" J. Lacan

READING SEMINARS

Freud’s Studies on Hysteria - a reading of female hysteria and the invention of psychoanalysis
Last Saturday of the month 11.00am-1.00pm

Lacan’s Seminar XX - Encore On Feminine Sexuality, The Limits of Love and Knowledge 1972-1973
Last Saturday of the month 3.00-5.00pm

These Seminars involve a close reading of foundational texts of Freud and Lacan with discussion of related clinical and theoretical topics.

Convenor: Linda Clifton,
9509 9396

 

SEMINARS

Psychoanalysis, philosophy & theology
First Saturday of the month 3.30pm-5.00pm

An appraisal of certain fundamental concepts in psychoanalysis and the way in which they are informed by and inform recurring questions in philosophy and theology across the realms of metaphysics, ontology, logic and ethics. - Detailed outline available on request.

Convenor: David Pereira, Analyst of the School,
9690 3515

Psychoanalysis and the Child
Re-convening Tuesday 5th February2008

When Oedipus confronts the sphinx and solves her riddle, he responds that the being who has at times two feet, at others three, at others four, is Man as an adult, an old man and as an infant. But this attempt to answer the enigma of sexuality with the proposition of the three ages of life poses a difficulty: we cannot speak of the ‘child’ in reference to psychoanalysis without opening the question of how we might conceive of the very notion of childhood and in what manner it might or might not constitute a theoretical category for psychoanalysis.

We can see, moreover, in the history of child psychoanalysis, a division between the two sides of Oedipus’ struggle: on the one hand, a confrontation with the enigma of sexuality for the child and an attempt to give it meaning; on the other, a turning away from this riddle through a recourse to a developmental insistence on ages and stages. We might pose a question of what articulation between these two sides, that of the riddle and of its solution, is possible. That is, we might attempt to keep the enigma alive, but without throwing out the child with the bathwater. For to speak about a field of child psychoanalysis is to put forward that the child might be able to be structurally defined in relation to the enigma of sex.

Starting from such deliberations, this seminar will pose a question of what is a ‘child’. It will proceed by examining the threads that we may discern in psychoanalytic and other texts regarding the child. Freud’s writings will be taken up in order to discern what in psychoanalysis has shaped the path of the conceptualisation of childhood and the infantile factor of sexuality. The discussion will also draw on texts from related fields, such as the writings of Michel Foucault, Philippe Ariès and Jean Jacques Rousseau. A more detailed reading list may be obtained on request.

These questions will be further pursued in 2008 in reference to the founding analysts in the field of psychoanalysis and children, in particular Hermine Hug-Helmuth, Melanie Klein and Anna Freud.

We would like to invite those interested, regardless of ages and stages, to participate in the seminar to investigate the intersection of these two terms ‘psychoanalysis’ and ‘child’. Such discussions will of course involve reference to clinical material.

The seminar will take place on the first Tuesday of each month from 8 to 9.30 pm. In order to express interest or to participate please contact one of the convenors.

Convenors:
Tine Norregaard Arroyo, 9690 9597
Michael Plastow, 9347 1486

 

Delusional Truth
April 8, May 13, June 10, August 12. 8.00 - 9.30pm

“It remains for the future to decide whether there is more delusion in my theory than I should like to admit, or whether there is more truth in Schreber’s delusion than other people are as yet prepared to believe.” Sigmund Freud, 1911

“We also find in the very text of the delusion a truth that isn’t hidden, as it is in the neuroses, but made well and truly explicit and virtually theorized.” Jacques Lacan, 1956

What is the nature of this truth to be discovered in delusion to which both Freud and Lacan direct our attention?
Clearly any attempt to interpret the meaning of delusional content based upon the methods and principles applicable to the ‘repressed’ disavows the fundamental differences between the structures of psychosis and neurosis.
It should also be designated, as an error, the simplistic view that the unconscious is ‘on display’ or ‘at the surface’ in psychosis.
Contrary to many ‘popular opinions’ delusion is not a diseased brain mis–thinking but a construct of rigorous logic; the method of madness.

These seminars will address the question of truth in delusion by reference to clinical material. The way forward entails a return to the actual utterances of madness, contrary to the dismissive response to the fixed false beliefs apparently expressed therein.
What psychosis offers is a profoundly important avenue to our understanding of the human psyche in its ‘normal’ constitution; i.e. its psychopathology.
Thus it is rightly of the utmost interest to all clinicians and scholars and not just for those who wish to approach the possibilities and limits of treatment in psychosis.

To arrange attendance or for enquiries contact Dr. Rodney Kleiman Tel: 9859 4899



CLINICAL SEMINAR

Method and Technique in Clinical Practice
First Saturday of the month 11.30am -1.00pm.

With reference to a functional differentiation between the notions of method and technique this seminar will examine and discuss certain impasses in clinical practice. Reference will be made to clinical material and to selected clinical texts.

Convenors:
Linda Clifton, 9509 9396
David Pereira, 9690 3515