Event date: Wednesday 15 December 2010, 5.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m.
Location: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Blandijnberg 2, English Department Meeting Room (third floor, room 130.037 / 3.11)

“Trends in the Understanding and Treatment of Trauma-Related Symptoms in Contemporary Psychoanalysis” given by Professor Lewis Kirshner (Harvard Medical School)

“In this presentation, I will focus on some of the major issues in the diagnosis and treatment of trauma-related symptoms from the perspective of contemporary psychoanalysis.  My discussion will address psychoanalytic theories  of  trauma, especially Freud’s notion of a piercing of the stimulus barrier that ordinarily protects the psyche from excessive stimulation.  I will extend this concept by emphasizing the social link that constitutes this barrier, which is not simply a property of the individual’s mental structure but relies on ties to significant others and to cultural symbols.  This leads contemporary analysts to emphasize the relationship to the other – both the special person and the generalized Other of society.  The notion of a social link as a basic element of subjectivity modifies the conception of psychotherapy and opens up the way towards construction of modalities of intervention  that  address the group.”

Lewis Kirshner is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the author of Having a Life:  Self-Pathology after Lacan (Analytic Press / Routledge, 2004) and editor of the forthcoming Between Winnicott and Lacan (Routledge).  At present he is a Fulbright scholar at Ghent University.