D. W. Winnicott and the Middle School of British Psychoanalysis

4 CE credits for Licensed Psychoanalysts, Social Workers, and Psychologists

Donald Winnicott was one of the most original thinkers in the history of psychoanalysis. His conceptualizations—of transitional objects and the false self, for example—are now embedded within psychoanalytic discourse; his clinical intuitions—such as those about object usage and fear of breakdown—continue to inspire our work, and his writing retains its stunning freshness. Many a well-treated and formerly very troubled patient owes a great deal to Winnicott’s optimistic, intrepid, and groundbreaking clinical leadership. In this workshop, M. Gerard Fromm invites you to share in the pleasure of spending some time with Winnicott, as well as with some of the analysts who have developed his ideas. There will be a wide-ranging discussion, with many clinical questions and vignettes, covering a number of topics, including the following:

• The historical and theoretical context of Winnicott’s ideas, especially as they, like attachment theory itself, emerged from the trauma of war.

• Winnicott’s key theoretical and clinical concepts, and the way they position him in the “middle” of ego psychology and object relations.

• The work of important Middle School analysts and how Winnicott’s ideas manifest themselves in the consulting room.

• A “deep dive” into therapeutic progression within selected clinical material.

M. Gerard Fromm, PhD, is a Distinguished Faculty member of the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center, Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale Child Study Center, and President of the International Dialogue Initiative, an interdisciplinary group that studies the psychodynamics of societal conflict. He was the first Evelyn Stefansson Nef Director of the Erikson Institute, and directed the Therapeutic Community Program at Riggs for many years. Certified in psychoanalysis by the American Board of Professional Psychology, he has taught at, and consulted to, a number of psychoanalytic institutes across the country. Dr. Fromm currently maintains a practice of psychoanalytically informed organizational consultation. He is a past president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations and the Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems, where he served for three years as Director of its residential Group Relations Conferences. He has also served on the staff of Group Relations Conferences in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel. Dr. Fromm has presented and published widely, including the volumes Lost in Transmission: Studies of Trauma Across Generations; Taking the Transference, Reaching Toward Dreams: Clinical Studies in the Intermediate Area; and A Spirit That Impels: Play, Creativity, and Psychoanalysis.

Practitioners and General Public: $120; Students: $60

Registration is Closed