Intersectionality, Cultural Trauma, and Psychodynamics 

The field of psychoanalysis, with some notable exceptions, has historically neglected to fully consider the real impact of cultural trauma on psychodynamics or reckoned with the influence of power and privilege within our profession. Fortunately, this is changing. As the world grapples with rapidly changing social, environmental, economic, and geopolitical landscapes, a wave of psychoanalytic voices is rising, calling us to incorporate the cultural traumas of white supremacy, classism, homophobia, and cissexism into our understanding of psychic life. This series centers those voices, integrating sociocultural and intersectional perspectives with psychodynamic theory and application. Preeminent thinkers will present their groundbreaking work on addressing race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as power dynamics within the therapeutic relationship, through a psychoanalytic lens. Those who attend this series should emerge with a richer understanding of, and appreciation for, the interplay between sociocultural and psychic realities.

Faculty Organizers

Master Speaker Series Co-Chairs: David Scharff, MD and  Janine Wanlass, Ph.D.

Diversity Committee Chair: Andi Pilecki Eliza-Christie, MS, LPC

Program Date(s):

Educational Objectives

Whiteness. A problem for our times

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Define how “whiteness” is a socio-political construct and name at least 2 ways it has shaped our lives.
2. Discuss how the defence of disavowal develops in children and explain why it leads to difficulties in speaking about race as adults.

How Our Mind Becomes Racialized: Locating Cultural Experience:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify nodal points in the evolution of race awareness and the development of racialized thinking from childhood through adolescence into adulthood.
2. Identify subtle ways that developmental differences in racial and ethnic socialization for whites versus people of color impact the therapeutic relationship.
3. Identify the developmental factors that impact the clinician’s ability or inability to recognize and discuss race and racial dynamics in the clinical situation.

Surviving charitable hatred: Religious trauma and psychic resilience in queer lives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the role of “charitable hatred” in psychic and emotional trauma experienced by LGBTQ people
2. Discuss the impact of family acceptance and rejection on LGBTQ mental health, and how this is influenced by religious beliefs

December 9:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Apply Winnicottian concepts to formulate patient engagement with video games.
2. Utilize play as an effective therapeutic tool for the traumatised queer, transgender and/or gender non-conforming patient

“Is psychoanalysis as a clinical practice and as a theoretical discourse capable of addressing today’s social issues?”

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify and describe 4 basic issues of class, ethnicity, race, and language as they intersect in the clinical practice.
2. Describe at least 3 basic misconceptions about the applicability of psychoanalysis to neurosis, anxiety, class hatred, racism, transphobia.

Beyond heteronormative and cis-normative thinking in working with domestically abusive same-sex and other-sex/gender couple relationships

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. utilize the application of intersectionality to find at least 1 similarity and 1 difference between domestically abusive same-sex and other sex/gender couple relationships
2. explain the relationship between aspects of psychoanalytic theory and the principles of intersectionality when applied to the field of domestic abuse with gender and sexual minority couples
3. Identify 2 characteristics of a therapeutic approach to treating same sex couples that integrates constructs from both psychoanalytic theory and intersectionality

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe two ways that internal racism manifests as a psychic phenomenon
2.   Identify two ways in which it is difficult for clinicians to address internal racism in the clinical encounter

Developmental Narratives of Gay Men

At the end of this session the participant will

1. identify the role of heteronormativity in the development of a gay man’s identity
2. delineate the types of subjective identities that occur in a gay man’s coming out process

‘Thinking about ethics in psychoanalysis: knowledge, power and justice’

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. explain the relevance of applied ethics to psychoanalytic practice
2. describe the therapist’s position of power in the knowledge economy and identify at least 2 harms that result when this power is abused
3. define the concept of ‘epistemic injustice’

Continuing Education Credit Hours

2 CE credits per session, 18 CE credits for the full series of nine sessions.

Registration

Click here to register for the full series

get 1 free session when you register for the full series of 9.

To register for individual sessions, click the Register links on individual dates in the schedule above.

Tuition and Fees

Registration Fee: $60 for individual sessions; $480 for the full series.

IPI Members: $50 for individual sessions; $410 for the full series.

Limited scholarship funds are available for this training: https://theipi.org/scholarships/

Membership Benefits

Become a member of IPI at any level and you will have the option of adding on a Zoom Pro account as one of your member benefits. Associate and Full Members also receive discounted registration fees for most of IPI’s events, a subscription to PEP Web, the online psychoanalytic library, and other benefits depending on membership level.

HIPAA compliant Zoom video accounts are an optional add on for all IPI memberships. IPI has a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement with Zoom, which provides a HIPAA compliant platform for our accounts. HIPPA compliance is strongly recommended for all internet-mediated clinical work and clinical teaching. The “+ Zoom Pro” add-on to the IPI membership gives the user the ability to host online meetings with multiple people at the same time. [Current members can upgrade to the “+ Zoom Pro” account and only pay the difference in price from your current membership level.]

Click for IPI Membership and Zoom Account information

Should you have any questions about the program or the application process, please feel free to contact:

IPI admin team - contactus@theipi.org

Continuing Education Information

The International Psychotherapy Institute, IPI, is approved by The American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. IPI maintains responsibility for the program and its content. The International Psychotherapy Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6017. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The International Psychotherapy Institute is responsible for all aspects of the programs. The International Psychotherapy Institute is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland to sponsor social work continuing education learning activities and maintains full responsibility for this program. This training qualifies for Category I continuing education units. The International Psychotherapy Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0299.
Participants are responsible for verifying that IPI CE credit is accepted by the licensing boards in their own states.