REGISTER | Conference with Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD and Joseph Aguayo, PhD on 10/19

Houston Psychoanalytic Society

Online Conference

Vitality as a Theoretical and Technical Parameter in Psychoanalysis

Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD

with discussion by Joseph Aguayo, PhD

Saturday, October 19, 2024

10:00 AM - 1:15 PM Central Time

3 CME/CE/CEUs

Live via Zoom

This event will not be recorded

Registration Fees

HPS Active Member: $120

HPS Student Member: $60

Non-Member: $140

Instructional Level: Intermediate - Advanced

Terms such as vitality and authenticity are difficult to define. Moreover, they are not truly psychoanalytic concepts. However, when psychoanalysis attempts to theorize the non-specific aspects of treatment, such as those related to the person of the analyst, it becomes inevitable to refer to them. The thesis of this article is that vitality should be taken out of its vagueness and transformed as much as possible into a precise psychoanalytic concept. This can be done by discussing it in the light of Bion's concept of negative capability and the post-Bionian theory of the analytic field. Every time the analyst rediscovers to her surprise the dreamlike dimension of the session, she becomes more vital and reinvests in the patient, the analysis and the psychoanalytic method. Then, she realizes that she is always a character in the narratives of the analytic conversation and has the chance to try to guess what is happening by relying on her intensified physical or emotional reaction.

AGENDA

10:00am-10:10am Welcome, upcoming programs, conference logistics, introduction of speakers

10:10am-11:20am Presentation (Civitarese)

11:20am-11:30am Discussion (Aguayo)

11:30am-11:45am BREAK

11:45am-12:45pm Presentation (Civitarese)

12:45pm-12:55pm Discussion (Aguayo)

12:55pm-1:15pm Q&A with audience, conference evaluation

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After attending the program in its entirety, attendees will be able to:

Describe the use of the term "vitality" in psychoanalytic theory and explore its therapeutic role in treatment.
Explain the relationship between "vitality" and Bion's "negative capability".
Explain the relationship between "vitality" and the concept of “character” in post-Bionian analytic theory.

Presenter

Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and Training and Supervising Analyst of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI), and a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) and of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). He lives and has a private practice in Pavia, Italy. Among his books are: The Intimate Room: Theory and Technique of the Analytic Field (Routledge, 2010); The Violence of Emotions: Bion and Post-Bionian Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2012); The Necessary Dream: New Theories and Techniques of Interpretation in Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2014); Losing Your Head: Abjection, Aesthetic Conflict and Psychoanalytic Criticism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015); The Analytic Field and its Transformations (with A. Ferro, Routledge, 2015; Truth and the Unconscious ( Routledge, 2016); An Apocriphal Dictionary of Psychoanalysis ( Routledge, 2019); A Short Introduction to Psychoanalysis (with A. Ferro, Routledge, 2018); Sublime Subjects: Aesthetic Experience and Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2018); Vitality and Play in Psychoanalysis (with A. Ferro, Routledge, 2022); Psychoanalytic Field Theory: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2022); The Hour of Birth: Psychoanalysis of the Sublime and Contemporary Art (Routledge, in press); and On Arrogance: A Psychoanalytic Essay (Routledge, 2023). Dr. Civitarese has also co-edited L’ipocondria e il dubbio: L’approccio psicoanalitico [Hypochondria and Dubt: The Psychoanalytic Approach], Milano 2011; Le parole e i sogni [Words and Dreams], Rome 2015; The W. R. Bion Tradition: Lines of Development—Evolution of Theory and Practice over the Decades (Routledge, 2015); and Advances in Psychoanalytic Field Theory: Concept and Future Development (Routledge, 2016). He edited Bion and Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Reading A Memoir of the Future (Routledge, 2018. In 2022, Dr. Civitarese received the Sigourney Award for outstanding psychoanalytic achievement.

Discussant

Joseph Aguayo, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of California in West Los Angeles, USA. He is a Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society in London. He holds doctorates from the University of California, Los Angeles in clinical psychology and modern European history. Dr. Aguayo has authored one book and co-edited three others about Bion: Wilfred Bion: Los Angeles Seminars and Supervision (with Malin, 2013), Bion in Buenos Aires: Seminars, Case Presentation and Supervision (with de Cortinas and Regeczkey, 2017), Introducing the Clinical Work of Wilfred Bion (2023), and Bion in the Consulting Room: An Implicit Method of Clinical Inquiry (with Hinshelwood, Dermen, and Abel-Hirsch, 2024). Dr. Aguayo’s papers about Bion’s ideas have been published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Quarterly.

REFERENCES

Civitarese, G. (2017). Sublime subjects: Aesthetic experience and intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis. London: Routledge.

Civitarese, G. (2018). Vitality as a theoretical and technical parameter in psychoanalysis. Romanian Journal of Psychoanalysis, 11: 121-138.

Civitarese, G. (2019). On Bion's concepts of negative capability and faith. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 88:

751-783.

IMAGE Story or dream-like image from Shutterstock.

Disclosures

ACCME Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Houston Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

APA Accreditation Statement

Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.

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