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Event
Onsite: The Social Unconscious in our Theories and Praxis: The Case of Wilfred Bion
The conception of a Social Unconscious appeared at the very inception of the field of psychoanalysis. In fact, the term was coined by the first formally trained psychoanalyst and the first president of the American Psychoanalytic Association. It was intensely resisted and eventually erased from analytic literature and curricula. It continues to be misunderstood and resisted despite its necessity and utility. Considering the ways culture, ideology and collective structure the unconscious expands our field of inquiry and deepens our contact with ourselves and our patients.
The workshop will begin with a lecture on the origins of the social unconscious in analytic theory. The Social unconscious is a mental structure that exists in all people and not something that is relegated to minority or marginalized groups only. It organizes our perceptions and shapes our thinking. In fact, its contents are reproduced in our thinking, perception and comportment. To illustrate the point, in an attempt to expand our models of mind to include the social and transcendent dimensions of our experience, the conception of a social unconscious will be applied to the work of Wilfred Bion. Wilfred Bion was born in Mathura India. His primary care-taker during the first nine years of his life was an Indian Ayah (nanny). The arc of his theoretical contributions clearly reproduce conceptions and sensibilities that are discontinuous from the rest of psychoanalysis. The discontinuity, I suggest, is best understood as the re-emergence of eastern cultural dispositions that he must have acquired during his childhood in India.
The lecture will be followed by a discussion between Dr. Dajani and Dr. Cushman and a Q&A period. This will be followed by a case presentation and discussion about the clinical application of these ideas. Lastly, we will apply conceptions from the social unconscious and from Bion's theory of alpha function and 'attacks on linking' to better understand our experience in a rapidly changing society and culture.
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LocationCIIS Main Campus (View)
1453 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94103
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
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