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Presented by Dr. Ronald Ruskin, M.D.
The Psychoanalysis of Sports: The Game of Hockey
Synopsis
The author reviews the history and development of hockey as a national sport in Canada, exploring the applied psychoanalytic theme of sport—hockey–as an intermediate area or transitional phenomena. Hockey is a form of shared cultural experience communicating and containing conscious and unconscious elements of gendered individual/group identifications, conflicts, and fantasies shared by participant and observer alike. Hockey, like many sports, has its origins in aim-inhibited masculine aggression derived from war but subjected to modified rules and rituals of play. Hockey offers the participant and observer, [player/fan] the opportunity to express and contain narratives of success and defeat linked to powerful affects as part of a group experience. The author describes the importance of sport in general as a cultural and socialization experience in the development of body-mind masculine identity with particular reference to the father-son relationship and participation in team sports. Clinical cases are cited to illustrate the relevance of including relational themes of sport [hockey] in psychotherapeutic work, bearing on narcissistic issues of shame, exposure, trauma, sense of self, assertion and aggression, affect-regulation, and bisexuality. The author concludes that a psychoanalytic approach may offer enriched comprehension of sport and broaden our involvement in how hockey informs work with patients and understanding of culture.
This scientific meeting will be moderated with discussant Dr. Barry Gilbert, M.D.
Speaker Bio
Ron Ruskin, M.D., a staff psychiatrist and director of the Mount Sinai Hospital Three-Day Hospital Program is on faculty of the Toronto Institute for Psychoanalysis and a training analyst at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society. Ron, a published novelist, poet, and short story writer, is one of the founding editors of Ars Medica and has a lifelong interest in the area of humanities, psychology and medicine
RSVP & Advance Reading
All active Members and Guests of the TSCP are invited to attend, free of charge. RSVPs appreciated. Please contact the office to request a copy of the advance reading.