- Clinical Seminar: Failure and Impasse in Psychoanalytic Treatment
Dr. Movahedi
The primary goal of this seminar is to examine the factors that may interfere with the analytic process creating impasses leading to therapeutic failures. The most aim of the course is to improve the participants’ clinical psychoanalytic skills through ongoing case presentations with the aid of process notes. To help facilitate our clinical discussions, I have prepared a reading list. While we will discuss the paper that I have assigned, we do not want the readings to function as a “resistance” to get into the case materials. The articles are there as guides hoping that they expose you to some material that would further promote thinking, reflecting on the analytic process, clinical materials, and our discussions.
For registration please email Dr. Movahedi: Siamak.movahedi@drmovahedi
- Dream, Fantasy, and Symbolic Communication
Dr. Movahedi
This course is designed to acquaint students with the language of the unconscious and primary process as it appears in dreams, fantasy, delusions, myth, symptoms and creative works. The course examines the basic mechanisms of dream formation — condensation, displacement, symbolization, secondary revision, etc. The course begins with the study of Freud’s work on dream interpretation. Freud’s views are then compared to the m ore recent theories about the nature and functions of dreams and fantasy formation. The use of dream in the conduct of psychoanalysis is then studied within the context of transference, resistance, and disguised communication. Presentations of personal dreams and fantasies as well as clinical case materials related to the topics of discussion are invited.
For registration please email Dr. Movahedi: Siamak.movahedi@umb.edu
- Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis
Theoretical and Clinical Considerations
Dr. Eftekhar
This course is the first of three courses on different theories of intersubjectivity with an emphasis on clinical utility. We begin with a survey of different perspectives on intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis. We then shift to the application of the concept in the therapeutic process through analysis of at least two class members’ clinical cases.
For registration please email Dr. Eftekhar: Mehrdad.eftekhar@gmail.com
- Winnicott’s Major Contributions:
Theoretical and Clinical Considerations
Dr. Nohesara
This course will review Donald Winnicott’s ideas and how they apply to treatment. We will study selected papers of Winnicott as well as those of other psychoanalytic authors that focus on his clinical theory and technique.
For registration please email Dr. Nohesara: shnohesara@gmail.com
- Psychoanalysis, Film Theory and Gender
Dr. Zhaf
“Talking about dreams is like talking about movies since the cinema uses the language of dreams: years can pass in a second, and you can hop from one place to another. It is a language made of the image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light mean something, as in a dream.” So, what can cinema tell us about the unconscious processes of the human mind, and what can such understanding do to aid our gender analysis? This class views cinematic attempts to illustrate unconscious human psychology, including dreams, motivations, repetition compulsion, castration anxiety, and other psychodynamic processes, as they manifest in the intersubjective field, defined in narrative cinematic arcs. We will then attempt to relate them to gendered analytic concepts so that they can become useful sources of knowledge about feminism. The course focuses on the ability to unpack unconscious dynamics in a film as it is done in psychoanalysis.
For registration please email Dr. Zhaf: mahrouzhaf@gmail.com
- What is Psychoanalysis? Freud and Contemporary Theories
Mr. Pouralibaba
This course introduces students to psychoanalysis and to the theoretical and clinical orientations that constitute the world of contemporary psychoanalysis.
For registration please email Mr. Pouralibaba: b.pouralibaba@gmail.com
- Theatre and Psychoanalysis
Workshops in Psychoanalytically Informed Theatrical Avant-garde
Mr. Yeganeh
The goal of these workshops is to explore the historical antecedents of the modern interactive theatrical form or work that breaks the wall, which traditionally separates the performer from the audience both physically and verbally. Different relationships between artists and spectators and the concept of the author as performer/spectator will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on the influences of foundational theatrical giants set against realism. We will examine the work of influential theatre practitioners-playwrights, designers, directors, producers, theorists, and performers-whose work falls outside of the canon. Throughout the course, workshops’ participants will read and watch examples of different styles of modern plays and movies, as well as rehearsing and performing short scenes for the class.
Participants will read and discuss the theatre of Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski, Will Eno, and Sarah Kane. We will also discuss the cinema of Luis Buñuel, Maya Deren, and Jafar Panahi. In all our discussions and rehearsals in the workshops, psychoanalytic readings and interpretations from the participants are invited.
For registration please email Mr. Yeganeh: vahdat_yeganeh@harvard.edu
Persepolis Psychoanalytic 