“Working With Extreme States”
Guest Presenter: Dr. Gill Straker
Synopsis
In this day-long event we will explore extreme self-states and integrated ways of approaching them. In the first seminar we will look at states of marginalization and exile as depicted in a short Australian film called Night Cries. We will interrogate extreme self-states both as they are represented in Night Cries and in terms of what they elicit in us. We will explore how extreme states pull us both toward the splitting apart of love and hate and toward the closing down of thinking as we drown in feeling.
In the second seminar we will continue to explore extreme states elicited in us as therapists. Through the exploration of case studies we will ask what ports of call might provide safety in the stormy seas of enactments generated by toxic social ideologies and shared trauma histories. These toxic ideologies include racism, sexism and homophobia. We will explore the notion of the anti-analytic third as a particular third that closes down thought and embroils us in enactments generated by the normative unconscious (Layton )
In the third seminar participants will be invited to present work in which they have felt challenged by extreme states elicited in them by their patients and co-constructed with them.
MORNING: “States of Marginalization and Exile ”
AFTERNOON: Extreme States and the Anti-Analytic Third
This event is accredited as a group learning activity (section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA). The specific opinions and content of this event are not necessarily those of the CPA, and are the responsibility of the organizer(s) alone
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Increase an understanding and capacity to identify the emotional and somatic markers of extreme self-states;
- Deepen an understanding of the oft repeated statement that for the patient to change the counter-transference needs to change;
- Introduce the concept of the anti-analytic third as a particular form of impasse/enactment related to toxic social discourses and the normative unconscious.
Click here to download the full conference brochure.
Schedule for the day
10:00 am | Introduction of speaker (Dr. Judi Kobrick) |
10:10 am | “States of Marginalization and Exile ” Dr. Gill Straker |
11:00 am | Dialogue between audience and Dr. Straker |
12:00 pm | Lunch (on your own) |
2:00 pm | “Extreme States and the Anti-Analytic Third ” Dr. Straker |
3:00 pm | Audience Discussion: Challenges of Extreme States in Clinical Work |
4:00 pm | Closing remarks (Dr. Kobrick) |