Psychoanalysis: Seduction, Repression, and the Enigmatic Signifier

2 CE credits for Social Workers and Psychologists

This talk will first give a quick overview of Laplanche’s thought — emphasizing the General Theory of Seduction, the Translational Theory of Repression, and the distinctions between instinct and drive, and between enigmatic signifier and enigmatic message—and then consider excerpts from two movies (Fritz Lang’s M and the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), in which the perpetrators of serial murderous sexual crimes explain their motivations. RSVP by email.

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Jonathan House, MD, is on the faculty of the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research of Columbia University, where he is a training and supervising analyst. He is co-translator of Jean Laplanche’s recent essays, Freud and the Sexual.