The Washington Center for Psychoanalysis offers many ways to collaborate with your peers. One of these opportunities for collaboration is through study groups. A sample of the study groups on offer is listed below.
Some of these groups have been going on for a long time, other are new or proposed. Most offer CME/CE credits. All are open to WCP members, although some restrictions may apply. Please contact the group leader to find out more, including details of location, times, frequency of meetings etc. Contact details are located in the Directory section of this Catalogue.
Have an idea for a study group? Want to be listed here? Just start and let us know the details!
Want to offer continuing education credits? Contact the Center office to find out the process. Applying for CE is easy, and the deadline is May 1 for the following academic year.
A sample of what's on offer:
Is There A Place for Shorter Term Psychoanalysis (Analysis Planned for Approx. 1 Year)
(Diane LaVia, M.D.)
To explore the history of time/duration of analysis, is there a need/niche for short term analysis, selection of patients for shorter term analysis, issues of technique in short term analysis, clinical trials.
Clinical Quandaries in Psychoanalysis
(Judith Sheagren, Ph.D.) (Baltimore - CLOSED TO NEW MEMBERS)
An opportunity to discuss perplexing clinical issues that commonly, or not so commonly, arise for the practicing psychoanalyst group members. Difficult case situations are presented in accordance with member needs, and discussions address theory and applicable psychoanalytic literature.
Current Treatment Issues and Relevant Psychoanalytic Treatment
(Wolfgang Weigert, M.D.)
The goal of this study group is to provide psychoanalysts in private practice with a forum for difficult patient issues, impasses, unusual patient settings, and at the same time, to devote some sessions with discussions of relevant literature. The participants are graduate psychoanalysts. Presentations of case material are followed by questions and discussions regarding the impact of technique, character defense diagnosis, analyzability, parameters, and ego adaptations. Literature is discussed and integrated. Some sessions are devoted to new articles in psychoanalytic publications (JAPA and IJP) or findings in areas of science which border on psychoanalysis.
Presentation and Friendly Critique of Papers Judged Close to Submission
(James Hutchinson, M.D.)
To provide mutual support and encouragement in the membership of our local psychoanalytic institutes in their psychoanalytic writing. The content will be papers judged close to completion by their authors who wish to present them to friendly criticism for review before submitting them for publication or presentation under formal circumstances. Open to candidates and analysts of the Baltimore Washington and Washington Psychoanalytic Institutes that are either interested in presenting or listening to the topics.
Close Process Attention Approach - An Overview and Update
(James Hutchinson, M.D.)
To broaden the clarity of thinking about and practice of psychoanalytic technique. The course will focus on the theoretical basis and technical recommendations of Dr. Paul Gray's Close Process Attention Approach. Will include his writings, and the selected writings of the other practitioners of Close Process as well as the principal criticisms raised regarding his recommendations. Open to a small group (5-15) of psychiatric residents from local residency programs, self selected for interest in the topic. Members will be asked to attend each session and commit to one year [10 sessions] of study. Includes a light reading list, and monthly 1.5 hour sessions. The sessions will consist of a lecture followed by either clinical vignettes or brief excerpts from dramatic film to illustrate the nature of the theoretical or technical material presented. Considerable time will follow for a free flowing and assessment of the material.
Study Group: Culture, Media & Mind
(James Hutchinson, M.D.)
To consider the impact of mass media, particularly American Commercial broadcast and cable television on childhood development. The content will be primarily psychoanalytic, but will take cognizance of findings in evolutionary psychology, social psychology, and neuro-biology. There will be brief selected readings from Caldini, Freud, Luria, Marx, McCluhan, Milgram, Mumford, Adam Smith, Oliver Sack and Vygotsky. The study group will examine the following propositions: 1. Humans have evolved predispositions for attention, perception and capacities for rapid downloading of patterns of thought, values and mores which have permitted them to survive and thrive as a hierarchical tool-making, language speaking and culture forming species. 2. These processes find expression in psychoanalytic processes such as defense, transference, and incorporation or identification. 3. The content of American Commercial Media has been a natural experiment to identify what audio-visual stimuli are best at gathering and holding the attention of a broad audience. 4. There has been an evolution of content over the life span of the media which is understandable in terms of the priorities of what we have evolved to attend. 5. In general, stimuli which are more primitive have a higher salience - this helps account for the steady increases of sex and violence on televised material but much other content as well. 6. Advertisements like parents, teachers and religious leaders are interested in influencing the values and mores of those they address. 7. Advertisements have undergone a similar selective pressure to better address those parts of the human which inculcate values and mores from peers and authorities. 8. This means there is a new a radical form of competition for parents, teachers and religious leaders in acculturating this generation of children. 9. These hypotheses offer depth to some of the clinical syndromes now presenting in those who see children and adolescents. Comprises a small group (no more than 10) of graduate analysts, self selected for interest in the topic. Members will be asked to attend each session and commit to four 1.5 hour sessions.
Psychoanalytic Approaches to Young Adults and Late Adolescents:
Transference, Counter-transference and Ethical Considerations. (Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. and Lindsay Brancato, Psy.D.)
Open to clinicians interested in and involved with the treatment of young adults, late adolescents and their families. The aim of this study group is to increase skills in case conceptualization and clinical intervention. A special emphasis will be placed on transference/ countertransference issues and related ethical concerns. A small group of licensed clinicians working with this population will take turns presenting clinical material. This material will be used as a basis for discussion.
Difficult Cases
(Marjorie Swett, MSW)
The goal of this study group is to increase the ability of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists who have difficult analytic and psychotherapy cases in treatment. Presentationsof 'stuck'psychoanalyticand psychotherapycasesarepresentedbygroup members on a rotating basis. The discussions address theory and clinical issues and study of applicable psychoanalytic literature.
Peer Supervision Goals
(Ernest Wallwork, Ph.D.)
The goal of this peer supervision group is to provide solo psychoanalysts with a forum to discuss their clinical work with colleagues and to obtain feedback from colleagues about alternative hypotheses, interventions, and difficult patient issues. The members of the group meet bimonthly for an hour and a half to discuss the clinical presentation of one of the members. The members rotate presentations at one of the member's homes. The participants are graduate psychoanalysts in private practice. The presenter summarizes the case and reads process notes. This is followed by a discussion of the work with colleagues, typically including issues of diagnosis, technique, and character defenses. When appropriate, the relevance of literature in the field to the case is discussed.
Treatment Issues and Advances in Psychoanalysis
(Patricia B. Crowe, Ph.D.)
The goal of this study group is to provide solo psychoanalysts with a forum for difficult patient issues, impasses, unusual patient settings, and at the same time, to devote some sessions with advances in our field. The participants are graduate psychoanalysts in private practice. Patient's presentations are completed. Afterwards, questions are raised and discussed regarding the impact of technique, character defense diagnosis, analyzability, parameters, and ego adaptations. Literature is discussed and integrated. Some sessions are devoted to new articles in psychoanalytic publications (JAPA and IJP) or findings in areas of science which border on psychoanalysis. One such topic may be new discoveries in the neurobiology of dreaming and its impact on the meaning of dreams in psychoanalysis.