Contemporary Psychoanalytic concepts in everyday life

2022-2023 One Year Program Materials

Class Dates and Course Materials:


Class 1. 09.08.22
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201

Title: Tenderness

Instructor: Miriam DeRiso

Syllabus

Film: Kajillionaire (to be watched individually prior to the class; found on Amazon Prime, and at the Carnegie Library on DVD)

Reading: The Desire to Giselle

As you read, please consider substituting the word "writer" with "analyst" or "therapist". To me it is the essence of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the concept of tenderness.


Class 2. 10.13.22
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 300 S Pacific Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224: Friendship Perk and Brew. Street Parking available.

Title: Many Manifestations of Alone

Instructor: Sharon Bernstein, Miriam DeRiso, Catherine Maihoefer

Syllabus

Medium: Poem (Please read this)

Reading: Partners in Thought. This is the primary article to read for class (in addition to the poem itself).

Supplemental Reading: Paul Williams, Solitude.

Sharon has asked that everyone bring a piece of material representing “Alone” to the class. This can be an image, sketch, photo, magazine, clipping, painting, sounds, etc. You will be invited to share what you’ve brought in class.

Class 3. 11.10.22
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 300 S Pacific Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224: Friendship Perk and Brew. Street Parking available.

Title: What’s in a name – a sparknotes diconary of two psychoanalyc terms

Instructor: Jose Manlla Rivas, Loren Sobel, MD., MS., William Cornell M.A., TSTA (P)

Syllabus

Medium: Music

For the following songs, listen to them twice. The first me, pay attenion to how the sound makes you feel, how lyrics make you feel. Then think to yourself -Are there parts of your personal history that relate to the lyrics? To the beat? To the song itself? -What feelings come up when you listen to the song. For the second me, try to come up with whatever words you think describe this experience. If possible, bring this to class. Please bring something to write with for the class.

Media:

Do I wanna know – by Arcc Monkeys

https://youtu.be/bpOSxM0rNPM -

Do I wanna know - Hozier (original by Arcc Monkeys)

https://youtu.be/fuWq4RZnc6U -

Do I wanna know - Dua Lipa (original by Arcc Monkeys)

https://youtu.be/fZB-ptAnoQc -

Junk of the Heart (Happy) – The Kooks

https://youtu.be/8pvHZ4ddR-4 -

From Eden – Hozier -

https://youtu.be/cI0wUoCLnLk

Reading: McLaughlin, J.T. and Cornell, W.F. (2005) The healer's bent solitude and dialogue in the clinical encounter. Chapter 11 Hillsdale, NJ: Analyc Press

Dictionary of psychoanalysis – transference and countertransference Auchincloss, E.L. (2012) Psychoanalyc terms & concepts. New Haven: Yale University Press. Chapter on transference and countertransference.

Class 4. 12.08.22
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 300 S Pacific Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224: Friendship Perk and Brew. Street Parking available.

Title: Presences and Absences

Instructor: Michael Mervosh, Loren Sobel, Miriam Deriso, William Cornell

Syllabus

Readings:

1. The Authority of Tenderness, Chapter 5 – Gone, Paul Williams

Supplemental Reading:

2. Vitalization In Psychoanalysis – Chapter 2 – An Allegiance To Absence, Rachel Sopher

3. Ghosts In the Consulting Room – Afterword – The Power of Being Witnessed, Sam Gerson

Media:

Make a quiet space to receive these words and images. Allow the presences and absences reflected in these various art forms to evoke presences and absences within you.

Two Songs:

- Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd cover, Staind https://youtu.be/Y4U-MeCfg9k

- Angel From Montgomery, John Prine Cover, Maren Morris https://youtu.be/DpxNuVchknM

Three Poems:

- Lost, David Wagoner https://youtu.be/n-R8gsoXvUU

- What The Living Do, Marie Howe https://youtu.be/VWabOtq10UI

Feeling Fucked Up, Etheridge Knight https://youtu.be/jqjXA1TaNjo

Two Visual Clips:

- Maria Abramovic – The Artist Is Present https://youtu.be/xlf68X2qEpM Nowness

- Vivian Maier 8 mm https://youtu.be/dthpmnlPMH4


Class 5. 01.12.23
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201. Please note location change

Title: Transgenerational Hauntings: Exploring the Unconscious Legacies of Family Tragedies and Secrets

Instructor: Bill Cornell

Syllabus

Media:

Required: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OZIwsk9cAM

Supplemental: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NuCrAkjGw

Reading:

-Required: : Edward Novak, “Emancipation from a fear of institutionalization: A case of transgenerational hauntings”

-Supplemental:

Maurice Apprey, “Repairing history: Reworking transgenerational trauma”

Ocean Vuong, “A Letter to My Mother that he Will Never Read”


Class 6. 02.09.23
6:15pm-9pm

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201. Please note location change

Title: Being Seen. The therapist as person.

Instructor: Loren Sobel

Syllabus

Media:

Required: Stutz, on Netflix.  https://www.netflix.com/title/81387962

Reading:

-Required: Irwin Hirsch (2016) Reflections on Ferenczi, Analytic Subjectivity, and Analytic Hierarchy, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 52:3, 383-390

-Supplemental: Kuchuck, S. (Ed.). (2013). Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst's Life Experience: When the Personal Becomes Professional (1st ed.). Chapter 5. Routledge.

Class 7 03.09.23

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201. Please note location change

Title: Vicissitudes of Desire

Instructor: Tova Tarr

Syllabus

Media: Optional "Blue Velvet," a movie by David Lynch, 1986. You can watch it on: HULU, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and more.

Caution: This movie is disturbing. It includes graphic sex and violence. Please stop watching if it is too disturbing to you.

Reading:

-Required: William F. Cornell (2004) The Impassioned Body: Erotic Vitality and Disturbance In Energy and Character, Vol. 33

-Optional:

Galit Atlas (2016) The Enigma of Desire Sex, Longing and Belonging in Psychoanalysis Chapters 1-2

Jody Messler Davies (1998) Between the Disclosure and Foreclosure of Erotic TransferenceCountertransference Can Psychoanalysis Find a Place for Adult Sexuality In Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8 (6): 747-766


Class 8 04.13.23

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201. Please note location change

Title: Smart phones, social media, and the attention economy: How do these impact us?

Instructor: George Herrity Psy.D.

Syllabus

Media: “The Social Dilemma” (2020) Film directed by Jeff Orlowski. Available on Netflix

Reading:

-Required:

Hari, J. (2023). Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and how to Think Deeply Again. Crown.

Introduction: Walking in Memphis

Ch. 5: Cause Five: The disruption of mind-wandering

Class 9 05.11.23

Location: 145 44th Street, PGH 15201. Please note location change

Title: What is an analytic therapy space?

Instructor: Colleen Peddycord and Whitney Sigall

Syllabus

Media: Please take a photo of your office space and/or virtual space to bring to class (If you do not

have an office or would prefer not to share your office, bring a photo of an office you would like

to work in.)

Listen: IPA Off The Couch Episode 28: Psychoanalysis & Architecture

Reading:

Gerald, M. (2020). Design and architecture of psychoanalytic space. In In the shadow of freud's

couch: Portraits of psychoanalysts in their offices (pp. 104–118). essay, Routledge.

Optional:

NYT What’s in a Chair?