Washington Square Institute 35th Annual Scientific Conference

co-sponsored with NAAP

Sunday  April 10, 2011, 10am-4:30 PM

Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Character Development & Change

Presenters: Salman Akhtar, M.D., and Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D.

About the conference:

Morning Session 10-12:30 (registration begins at 9 AM)

Salman Akhtar, M.D.

Introduction by Gerd H. Fenchel, Ph.D.

The Long Shadow of Childhood Parental Loss Manifestation & Management

Childhood parental loss has a life-long impact.  That does not mean that the consequences are always of ‘pathological’ proportions.  A number of factors determine the ultimate outcome of such trauma; these include age at the time of parent’s death, level of intelligence, presence of an extraordinary talent, the degree to which life’s realities (.e.g. place of residence, financial status) are changed as a result of the loss, and, above all, the containing and soothing availability of the surviving parent.  When matters turn worse, there occurs (i) disordered metabolism of aggression, (ii) chronic mental pain, (iii) narcissistic imbalance, (iv) anxiety about attachment and love, (v) disturbance in the sense of time, and (vi) excessive fear of libidinization of the idea of one’s own death.

When such individuals enter treatment, the therapist must make an effort to (i) provide a greater amount of ‘illusion’ and ‘holding’; (ii) validate the importance and the ‘unfairness’ of the loss; (iii) discern the defences against the awareness of the pervasive impact of the loss; (iv) interpret the defensive uses of their status as an orphan; (v) pay special attention to termination and post-termination phases of the treatment and, (vi) manage the countertransference experience.

Salman Akhtar, MD, was born in India and completed his medical and psychiatric education there.  Currently, he is Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.  He has served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.  His more than 300 publications include 12 books - Broken Structures (1992), Quest for Answers (1995), Inner Torment (1999), Immigration and Identity (1999), New Clinical Realms (2003), Objects of Our Desire (2005), Regarding Others (2007), Turning Points in Dynamic Psychotherapy (2009), The Damaged Core (2009), Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2009), Immigration and Acculturation (2011), and Matters of Life and Death (2011) - as well as 33 edited or co-edited volumes in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.  Dr. Akhtar has delivered many prestigious addresses and lectures including  the Plenary Address at the Annual Meetings of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Association (2002), a Keynote Address at the 43rd IPA Congress in Rio de Janiero, Brazil (2005), the Plenary Address at the 150th Freud Birthday Celebration sponsored by the Dutch Psychoanalytic Society and the Embassy of Austria in Leiden, Holland (2006), and the Inaugural Address at the first IPA-Asia Congress in Beijing, China (2010). Dr. Akhtar is the recipient of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association's Best Paper of the Year Award (1995), the Margaret Mahler Literature Prize (1996), the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians' Sigmund Freud Award (2000), the American College of Psychoanalysts' Laughlin Award (2003), the American Psychoanalytic Association's Edith Sabshin Award (2000), Columbia University's Robert Liebert Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychoanalysis (2004), the American Psychiatric Association's Kun Po Soo Award (2004) and Irma Bland Award for being the Outstanding Teacher of Psychiatric Residents in the country (2005).  Dr. Akhtar is an internationally-sought speaker and teacher, and his books have been translated in many languages, including German, Turkish, and Romanian.  His interests are wide and he has served as the Film Review Editor for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and is currently serving as the Book Review Editor for the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. He has published 7 collections of poetry and serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Inter-Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia .

Afternoon Session 2:00 - 4:30 PM:

Nancy McWilliams

presentation followed by panel discussion moderated by Susan Klett, LCSW-R

Whatever Happened to Mental Health? Treating the Real Issues in Personality Disorders

In recent years, psychotherapy has been redefined, away from the traditional emphasis on a healing relationship and toward technical procedures directed at separate, externally observable symptoms of categorical disorders. A vital focus that has all but disappeared during this paradigm shift is our shared conception of overall mental health, defined by inferred internal experience, not just observable phenomena.  In the mid-twentieth century, there was spirited professional conversation about this topic, with Maslow, Horney, Szasz, Laing, Jahoda, and others contributing. We need to revive such a conversation in the context of a more international, diverse professional culture. Accordingly, this presentation will review traditional constructs pertaining to mental health (e.g., ego strength, self and object constancy, defensive maturity and range) as well as more recent conceptualizations (e.g., authenticity, capacity to mentalize, security of attachment) and their implications for both treatment and mental health policy.

Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., teaches at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and has a private practice in Flemington, NJ. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process (1994; revised edition in press), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide (2004), all with Guilford Press, and was Associate Editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (2006).  She is a former president of the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association, and on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Psychology. Dr. McWilliams's books have been translated into fourteen languages, and she has lectured widely both nationally and internationally.  Her book on case formulation received the Gradiva Award for best psychoanalytic clinical book of 1999; in 2004 she was given the Rosalee Weiss Award for contributions to practice by the Division of Independent Practitioners of the American Psychological Association; in 2006 she was made an Honorary Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and in 2007 she was awarded the Robert S. Wallerstein Visiting Lectureship in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.  A graduate of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, she is also affiliated with the Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey and the National Training Program of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City.

Washington Square Institute is approved by the American Psychological
Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Participants in the conference will receive 5 CE credits.