Continuous Clinical Case Seminar
Dr. Movahedi
This eight-week clinical webinar is devoted to examining the analytic process within the interactive matrix of the therapeutic situation. Emphasis will be on listening to what is occurring between patient and therapist through transference countertransference enactments in the session. Members of the webinar will have the opportunity to present case descriptions and process notes of their ongoing work with a patient in psychoanalytic therapy or psychoanalysis. There will be the opportunity for seminar members to actively participate in the class discussion and comment on their understanding of the patient-therapist interface. Readings are assigned for every class session to address critical clinical concepts and problems. Topics will include issues surrounding the analytic frame, modes of analytical listening, the formulation and timing of analytic interventions, and problems of the initial phase of analysis and termination.
For registration, please email Dr. Movahedi: Siamak.movahedi@drmovahedi
Unconscious Fantasy (Phantasy)
Dr. Movahedi
The concept of unconscious fantasy is one of the most important theoretical and clinical concepts of psychoanalysis, with profound theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the workings of the mind and the therapeutic process. Freud, Klein, Lacan, and many contemporary analysts of different theoretical orientations refer to unconscious fantasy in their writings. Yet, despite general agreement about its clinical importance, the term unconscious fantasy remains ambiguous and unclear. Our goal in this seminar is to examine the concept of unconscious fantasy from various historical and contemporary points of view, with particular attention given to recent controversies about its clinical utility in the interactive matrix of the analytic situation.
For registration, please email Dr. Movahedi: Siamak.movahedi@drmovahedi
Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations II
Dr. Eftekhar
This course is the continuation of the course: Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis that I taught last semester. In this four-week course, we will focus on Field Theory and the works of Madeleine Baranger and Willy Baranger. As in the first section of this course, we will concentrate on the implications of this perspective for clinical work. At least two class members are asked to present clinical cases that can be analyzed through the Field Theory prism of intersubjectivity.
For registration, please email Dr. Eftekhar directly: Mehrdad.eftekhar@gmail.com
The registration fee for this course will be ½ of our regular rate.
Psychoanalytic Psychopathology
Dr. Nohesara
The etiology and development of psychic disturbance will be described and discussed through the varied prisms of psychoanalytic perspectives. More specifically, we will explore through classic and current psychoanalytic literature issues of more severe disorders. We begin by studying states of near psychosis and then move to other narcissistic disorders.
For registration, please email Dr. Nohesara: shnohesara@gmail.com
What is Psychoanalysis? Freud and Contemporary Theories II
Mr. Pouralibaba
This course will continue with exploring some of the fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis introduced by the Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Among the many contributions made by Freud for understanding the workings of the mind that we will study in this course are his study of hysteria and the psychoanalytic notes on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia. We will then review the structural model and the working of Id, Ego, and Superego in their relation to the concept of the self.
For registration, please email Mr. Pouralibaba: b.pouralibaba@gmail.com
British Object Relations Theory
Dr. Sekechi
Within psychoanalysis, Object Relations Theory’s central tenet is that the infant seeks the object (mother), to establish a relationship rather than to discharge drives as Freud had postulated.
This eight-week course introduces Object Relations Theory and Practice, focusing on the origins of object relations theory. We will read two or three seminal papers by Ronald Fairbairn who was a major theoretician in the development of object relations theory, followed by a study of Michael Balint’s ‘Primary Love’ and Basic Fault’ concepts. We will then move to an introduction of Melanie Klein’s widely influential theories of unconscious phantasies, personality positions, envy (evil eye) and reparation, and a brief study of some of Klein’s influential followers such as Wilfred Bion, Herbert Rosenfeld, and Hannah Segal. Time permitting, we will examine aspects of the influence of object relations theories on the American Psychoanalytic scene, as in the works of Jay Greenberg and Stephen Mitchell.
For registration, please email Dr. Sekechi: mahnazsekechi@gmail.com
Object in Psychoanalytic Thought: A Cultural History
Dr. Rahimi
The notion of “object” has a long history in psychoanalysis, about as old as the discipline itself. The term “object” first appeared in 1905, in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, where Freud used it in formulating his new libido theory, to mean “the thing in regard to which or through which the instinct is able to achieve its aim.” But in his later writings, object took on different senses. Freud used the concept of object (objekt) in different meanings over the years, without ever clearly differentiating those senses. Spread between these basic senses are nuances, which were used by Spitz, Fairbairn, Klein, Winnicott, Bion, Lacan, and others to construct distinct psychoanalytic formulations of psychological development and ego formation. However, there seems to be no single agreement on the nature, definition, or existential state of “object.” In this course, we will briefly examine the idea of object in philosophical tradition before looking at Freud’s use of the notion in his theory. We will then consider some of the main psychoanalytic branches that have paid special attention to the notion of object, with closer attention to Klein, Winnicott, Bion, and Lacan. After gaining a general sense of how the notion of object has evolved within psychoanalysis, we will attempt to locate and examine that trajectory within the broader cultural and intellectual context of the 20th century, including the general interplay between the philosophical and scientific narratives. The course will conclude with an interrogation of the relevance and implications of the developmental history of object in psychoanalysis for the road ahead, including the virtual space and virtual objects and the theory of spectrality.
For registration, please email Dr. Rahimi: sadeq.rahimi@mail.mcgill.ca
Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Adolescence
Dr. Ganjavi
In this course, adolescence will be considered as the critical state of not being a child anymore and yet not an adult. Different phases of adolescence, namely early, mid, and late adolescence, and the considerable phenomena in each will be covered, but more importantly, the emphasis will be on the internal world and challenges of adolescents. Participants are invited to reflect on their own associations regarding this stage and their experiences in the clinical setting. Through the eight sessions of the course, our primary reading material will be the three parts of the book, On Adolescence: Inside Stories by Marot Waddell (2018), a British psychoanalyst with many years of clinical work with adolescents. These parts will include the section on Context and Background (2 chapters), Aspects of the Adolescent Experience (5 chapters), and Clinical Pictures (5 chapters). The chapters will take a deep look into adolescents’ internal experiences through different psychoanalytic, developmental, and socio-cultural lenses.
For registration, please email Dr. Ganjavi: Anahita.ganjavi@gmail.com
Psychoanalysis and the question of sexuality and gender
Dr. Zhaf
This course will explore contemporary psychoanalytic theory and thinking on sexuality and gender through some clinical cases. Students will learn about the mutual interaction and construction of body and mind in modern thinking with an eye on the data on the development of sexuality and gender identity and the nature of “neosexual solutions” in children and adults. Freud’s original conceptions will be reviewed within the context of contemporary social and cultural changes. The clinical implications of transference/countertransference issues for the analyst working with patients presenting diverse sexual and gender identities will be explored. Given the explosion of analytic literature on the topic, the syllabus offers a selection of readings highlighting key issues.
For registration, please email Dr. Zhaf: mahrouzhaf@gmail.com
Workshops in Psychoanalytically Informed Theatrical Avant-Garde and Modernist Iranian Novels
Mr. Yeganeh
These workshops aim to explore the historical antecedents of the modern interactive art forms that psychoanalytic studies and practices have strongly inspired. The emphasis of these workshops is to examine the works of two Iranian giants, Sadegh Hedayat and Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi in relationships with some of the world’s most influential theorists, playwrights, and directors, whose work falls outside of the canon and set against realism. Participants will be encouraged to read and discuss the work of Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, and Peter Brook. Throughout the course, we will discuss different relationships between artists and spectators and the concept of the author as performer/spectator. In all our discussions and workshops, psychoanalytic readings and interpretations from the participants are invited.
For registration, please email Mr. Yeganeh: vahdat_yeganeh@harvard.edu
Persepolis Off the Couch
A Psychoanalyst Examines Famous Films with Behzad Pouralibaba.
Every month, we will select a film for you to watch and discuss and try to examine it from a psychoanalytic perspective. We will try to understand the unconscious of the film’s writer, director and what they project on fictional characters and subjects. Analyzing the unconscious and desires of the film’s audience is another aim of our monthly webinar. In addition to the course instructor, we will often have Dr. Zhaf and Mr. Yeganeh as a part of our critics for our analysis and interpretation of a movie.
For registration, please email Mr. Pouralibaba: b.pouralibaba@gmail.com
Persepolis Psychoanalytic 