Annual Speaker Series Bridging Psychoanalytic Thought, Experience, and Culture

Event price: Event is free! Registration is required.

Doors Open: 5:30pm  Refreshments and Light Snacks

Parking: Free parking in lots B & C 

Note: Please ONLY enter the building  (from the Green)  directly to the 5th Floor 

Location:
Carlow University
University Commons Building
Gailliot Multipurpose Room, 5th Floor
3333 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

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Continued Education: 2.0 credits

Registration is CLOSED

Campus Map of Carlow

  • Over the last number of years, a great deal of attention has been paid to the prevalence of virulent hate within public life, including the apparent ease with which hate can be mobilized for political purposes. In contrast to this, love seems like a rather weak force in politics and a feeble basis on which to mobilize. Why is this? Although there are likely many factors; we will focus on just one question: is there is something about the difference in the nature of love and hate that helps explain the apparent difference in their political efficacy?

  • Jeremy Elkins Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of jurisprudence, political thought and social policy at Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Elkins has published widely in a diverse set of fields, including law, political theory, and psychoanalysis.

    1. Identify the differences in the psychodynamics of love and hate.

    2. Explain some of the reasons why hate may be more easily mobilized than love for political purposes.

  • Click the link below to download the syllabus.

    Thoughts for the Times: On Love and Hate

    1. MIND, CULTURE, AND GLOBAL UNREST PsychoanaIytic Reflections by Salman Akhtar

      Chapter 4: Racial, religious, and ethnic prejudice

    2. A Festival for Frustrated Egos by Claudia Leeb

  • "Erotophobia" - This presentation will look at the role of sexuality in current debates  at the intersection of queer theory and psychoanalysis. We will look at the popular idea that the solution to queer struggle is "more sex" in the context of psychoanalytic theories of sexuality, with particular attention to the ideas of French psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche.

  • Gila Ashtor Ph.D., L.P. is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Arts & Sciences, and a Clinical Instructor in Psychology (Psychiatry) at Columbia University. She is the author of three books - in critical theory/literature, clinical psychoanalysis, and a memoir. Dr. Ashtor specializes in Critical Theory, Psychoanalysis and Literature

    1. Participants will be able to understand the role of sexuality in current debates about queer theory and psychoanalysis

    2. Participants will be able to contrast popular ideas of sexuality with Laplanche's ideas on the subject

  • Click the link below to download the syllabus.

    Erotophobia – Or, What Does It Mean to be Queer?

  • 1. Tim Dean, No Sex Please, We’re American, American Literary History, Volume 27, Issue 3, Fall 2015, Pages 614–624.

    2. Berlant, L., & Edelman, L. (2015). Reading, Sex, and the Unbearable: A Response to Tim Dean. American Literary History, 27(3), 625–629.

Connect contemporary psychoanalytic theory to the world(s) that we individually and collectively inhabit and navigate

  • Learn about the clinical and social utility in applying contemporary psychoanalytic thought to the complexities of human experience in culture

  • Benefit from the opportunity for dialogue between nationally-recognized psychoanalytic experts and local clinicians and students in the mental health field

  • Our program welcomes students and mental health practitioners learning and working in diverse fields of psychotherapy and social service

  • We are committed to decreasing financial barriers to robust educational experiences by providing this program tuition free and offering enrolled participants access to APA- approved continuing education credits at no cost.

Series details:

The speaker series, “Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies in the Contemporary World” highlights the ongoing relevance of psychoanalytic concepts in today’s world to the broader mental health community in Western Pennsylvania. For recent generations of students and clinicians in our region, psychoanalytic ideas have often not been relevant and useful for daily clinical work. However, as psychoanalytic language and concepts become less abstract and more accessible, we see the time as ripe to explore the connections that can be drawn between contemporary psychoanalytic theory and the worlds that we individually and collectively navigate as we try to improve the practice of psychotherapy in an ever increasing complicated surround. Our aim is to bring experts in contemporary psychoanalytic theory into dialogue with clinicians and students in our Western Pennsylvania region by offering a compelling free educational program through this speaker series.