Psychoanalysis. Licensed psychologist. Anti-Fascist. Progressive politics. (Musical) Theatre.
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The reality likely is that the relationship between material conditions, ideology, social influence, and the rise of fascism is very complicated and the various factors are mutually influential. But I do think people underestimate your point about the power of ideas and social influence.
š„ and š¤¬ that this is the terrible reality.
And with the most drab furniture and fluorescent lighting.
I kinda like the idea of not being presumed American!
Yeah exactly! Itās not actually any care or treatment, just a way for the government to say (somewhat falsely) that veterans have āaccessā to mental health care. The potential moral injury of working under those conditions was too much to take.
lol no! Chicago. But I did visit the UK in June š
What a cathartic video to watch. Kudos to these brave citizens. No elected Republican should have a moment of peace until this ends and justice comes.
I was once offered a VA outpatient mental health job w/ the explicit non-negotiable expectation I would maintain a caseload of 150-200 patients. That means seeing most patients once/month. Actively suicidal patients would get weekly sessions, no one else. This isnāt new, but it will get worse.
I think we can all agree that the extended discussion of Lacanās analysis of āThe Purloined Letterā was one of the low points of last summerās Democratic convention.
Yeah, for sure. My main concern is that we not do the fascistsā language-policing for them even as we try to speak as effectively to people as possible.
Yeah totally agree. Itās good to have lots of words to choose from, some work better for some people than others!
I agree. Often (most of the time?) better to use more plain, common words than these. But sometimes they have their place. And no good to ban using words entirely, especially when fascists are weaponizing those words against innocent people.
This is the way.
Fascists understand when you stop people from using a word, you make it harder for them to think about what is suggested by *that* word. So many of these words help us think more humanely about people dehumanized by fascists. Thatās why fascists denigrate & ban them. Letās use them to fight back.
It remains shocking to me to see the democratic establishment reject someone so charming, talented, and popular. Very happy for NYC (and envious) that they might (will) get to have Mandani as mayor.
Ahh the first situation is the best! Reminds me of one of my fave Winnicott quotes: "If only we can wait, the patient arrives at understanding creatively and with immense joy, and I now enjoy this joy more than I used to enjoy the sense of having been clever."
Another riff on this: I predict, therefore I am not yet thinking, therefore I am not yet becoming. (Thinking here in the Bionian sense of the term - a generative transformation of raw experience, and not merely a repetition of whatās come before)
š¤® You shouldnāt just toss this - you should first stab this page with many pens. Then maybe burn it.
Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness Cognition ā consciousness
Ughā¦ You donāt bring people together by legitimizing bad faith arguments used to villainize innocent groups of people. You bring people together through naming the rightful villains - i.e., the billionaires and fascists, NOT trans people and immigrants.
Oh boyā¦ Saying āmaybe you shouldnāt talk,ā regardless of what itās about, doesnāt seem like a great move for a *talk* therapist to make 99% of the time.
Agreed. I might add that while we may not be able to think and feel *fully* at the same time, therapeutic thinking occurs *at least* in the shadow of a feeling, with the remnants of the feeling still lingering in the body even if not being *fully* attended to consciously when actively thinking.
100% this. I had many professors/supervisors who thought dependence was a dirty word. It was clearly implied that if you needed to see a patient more frequently or for years, you were doing something wrong and harming the patient. š
Yes I do this a lot too! āWhat coming up,ā like so many metaphors we use all the time as therapists, is a great embodied metaphor and/because itās not overly prescriptive (as you describe really well).
I think analytic technique (at its best) facilitates a process wherein the patient *feels* their feelings while thinking about them. I see that as inherently embodied, but maybe thereās more to what you mean by embodiment than that?
I think embodiment is becoming more in vogue in certain corners of psychoanalysis (mostly with relational and neuropsychoanalytic folks), but Iām not sure it has led to much change/innovation in analytic clinical technique.
A very moving piece about a special type of relationship that too few people get to experience. Really worth reading.
āThereās a lot that therapists and analysts canāt do,ā he [Galatzer-Levy] said. āThe one thing we can do is be honest. When one is basically being untruthful about something as important as whether one is going to be around to do the work ā that is an enormous breach.ā Gift link ā¬ļø
I do wonder about the thinking behind naming it P-HOLE tho š§ Iām assuming its āperversityā is intentional? Or am I the perverse one for that being my first association?? š
This is very intriguing! No way I can take on more classes right now, but maybe in a year or two!
I think this is one reason why psychoanalysis, despite its (potential) richness for thinking about gender, sexuality, and race, keeps failing to attract more queer & non-white voices. Lots who *could* find a theoretical home if not for all the bullshit-editing needed when reading āoldā texts.
If it makes it any better, at least I donāt outwardly say gif my preferred way and terrorize people with my (mis)pronunciation š
š
I grew up saying it with a hard g, but have trained myself to do soft g. But in my heart, itās still hard g, and my adolescent self cringes every time I do the soft g to socially conform.
āIt should give us pause that, when professional academics come to train as psychoanalytic candidates, they are routinely taken aback by the poor quality of the teaching they experience.ā Yes indeed it should!
Iām anxiously awaiting it! Looked it up, and yea, some really dumb items. But also, I donāt get how a self-report measure with dichotomous items like that can be usefully seen as āpsychodynamicā?? Personality organization is simply not that easy to āscreen,ā and problematic to suggest it can be.
I totally thought this was just a witty, albeit somewhat unexpected, commentary like Joanne did until I saw her other post about actual dented cans! š The unconscious brilliantly at work I guess!
This is also something some analysts* could benefit from remembering before making less-than-useful interpretations. *me, Iām some analysts
I also love how so much of the āadviceā there amounts to āhereās how to lie to your patient and not feel guilty about it.ā šµāš«
Best for me not to look at that one I thinkā¦
My god, r/therapists makes me want to sob/gouge my eyes out multiple times per day. And yet, I canāt turn away.
āAs it currently existsā seems so often/easily ignored when talking about broken social systems like this. Its like people making bad faith arguments that āabolish ICEā means there should never be enforcement of immigration laws ever. No, it means the current system is fucked beyond repair.
Yeah, that seems like a legit concern to me. It's also one that schools could find ways to meaningfully address - like connecting students with therapists in the community (alumni, adjuncts, etc.) who will see them pro bono/reduced fee.
Wow! š¤Æ That sort of thing happens way too often in the analytic world. I know too many candidates who were asked similar sorts of questions when applying to programs.
Wow! Yeah, I know a fair amount of psychologist who take the critique we're making - that students shouldn't be coerced into making intimate disclosures to their teachers and peers - to an extreme where they see requiring personal therapy with an independent therapist as unethically coercive.
I think you make a good point about how behaviors themselves are not particularly good at ruling out/in lots of diagnoses, including autism. Beyond behavior, is there anything else (e.g., cognition, psych characteristics, mental processes) you think would rule out an autism diagnosis?
Itās astonishing to me how many programs do not require personal therapy for students, sometimes saying it would āunethicalā to require it, yet are fine with assignments like a sexual autobiography š
Wowā¦ not surprised as these posts are also a dime a dozen at The Other Place and Reddit. But itās terribly, terribly sad š¢ Our profession is in dire straits, at least in the USA.
GVD letting his sadism fly I see š
This looks very enticing! Iāve dubbed this summer my summer of Lacan now that Iāve given up hopes of my institute offering a Lacan class. This could be the start of it!
Maybe I have an abnormal antipathy for these things, but this seems about as useful as an ordinary feelings wheel to me. They make me feelā¦ sadsad? No, more like rĆ©volfed.
Yea! Her personal narrative was more compelling than her part-object critique of therapy.
Yes please do!
Definitely a problem w/ too many therapists applying simple, gratifying answers to patients' problems. But a lot of this felt like moral panic. Also, lol @ "But therapeutic and psychoanalytic ideas have invaded popular culture, forming the backbone of how we understand our own lives" If only!
Dril the Freudian on Oedipal victory
Iām very excited!!
Question for any British/London-based psychoanalytic followers (or anyone in the know): Iām going to be in London in a few weeks. Of course I am planning to spend lots of time at the Freud museum - any other psychoanalytic things I should do? Is it worth visiting the Tavistock while Iām there?
And to your point about inpatient care, so many in the field need to get more in touch with their psychotic/borderline states, whether through intensive outpatient therapy or higher level of care.
Omg yes a thousand times yes! So many times Iāve told fellow therapists that Iām in analysis and they respond with, āI always tell my trainees it is so important to be in therapy so you can empathize with what itās like to be a patient,ā and each time I have to stifle my screams and eye rolls.
Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar's response to the double murder in DC versus Republican congressman Randy Fine's.
The body never lies when it tells you to raise your fees exorbitantly š
Totally worth it for the long weekend! I used to do two 12 hr days so I could have Fridays off and loved it. Since Iāve been in analytic training, I now do three 12 hour days so I canā¦ work an 8 hr day on Fridays š«
Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman welcomed to Columbia College's graduation ceremony with sustained jeers and boos. Minutes later, students break out in loud chants of "Free Mahmoud":
I hear ya. My sense is this is a general human problem, not specific to psychoanalysis. Reminds me of this 1957 Heinrich Racker quote: āThe myth of the analytic situation is that analysis is an interaction of a sick person and a healthy one.ā
For similar reasons, I think any theory of psychopathology must be rooted in a general theory of the mind/psyche. Itās what makes psychoanalytic theories of psychopathology appealing to me. Unlike the DSM model, PsyA explicitly shows how pathology is an extension of ordinary mental life.
It is unconscionable and immoral for the world to allow this horror to take place. 2.2 million people are trapped with no food, water, aid, medicine, and baby formula. This genocide must end and we must stop being complicit in the mass slaughter of babies and civilians.
āRaises profound ethical issuesā makes this sound way more complex than it is. If the reporting is accurate, Trumpās actions are plainly corrupt, illegal, and unconstitutional. Itās wrong & harmful to obfuscate the plain and simple truth when the truth really is plain and simple.
I've got the parapraxis mags out there too!
Itās really great!
I have a bunch of poetry/poetry adjacent books in my waiting room, and Consolations is the only one I consistently see people reading. Calvin and Hobbes is a great idea! I have some graphic novels out there (well, 2 - Are You My Mother? and Gender Queer), also catch people looking at those.
I love David Whyte. Consolations is in my waiting room. Iāve been meaning to order Consolations II, thanks for the reminder!
Israel is preventing the WHO from sending incubators into Gaza. Think about how savage, how barbaric, how evil, you have to be to defend that and defend the government doing that.
The way to my heart is through Mandy Patinkin. For reference, my dog is named Tinkin.
š Now Iām curious - would that bring up some very niche fetish artwork of the great Chicago fire, or just a nude soccer player?
I would 100% watch a Vatican procedural called Chicago Pope starring Mandy Patinkin.
Okay, fine, I admit it, you made me lol with this one š
Are you really still believing that trump might nominate someone who isnāt loyal to him and his unconstitutional agenda?!
Yeah, he's got a good point there.
No food, aid, or fuel have entered Gaza since March 2. Community kitchens have closed. Children are sick, thirsty, and starving. Now Netanyahuās government wants to occupy Gaza and shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the UN and its humanitarian partners. Arms embargo now.
And how lacking our mental health discourse is in helping people understand the operation of these dynamics in everyday relationships. 2/2
I donāt know if this is the case for Fetterman and his staff of course. But this passage has me thinking of how projection, projective identification, and the so-called āprimitiveā defenses make it so difficult to tell to whom certain thoughts, feelings, and intentions belong. 1/2
Hahah I support that. Looking forward to GVDās quippy reply š
What happens when you inevitably find out he lied to you like the rest of his nominees did?
Not sure itās possible to be in analytic therapy without being anxious af about whether you can afford it on some level (psychologically, emotionally, spiritually). Sucks that insurance, fees, and logistics have to add to those deeper, less unavoidable āaffordabilityā anxieties.
I thought it was excellent! Avgi, as expected, was spectacularly disturbing and activating in all the right ways. So much Iāll be wrestling with moving forward.
Absolutely! Teens, like all humans, need regular emotional contact with other humans to meaningfully address their mental suffering and to develop psychologically. Apps will never be able to offer that.
Oh my god canāt get enough of David Whyte š
Planning on being there!
Encouraging him to actually, meaningfully fight the fascists is "thoughts and prayers"? š¤Ø
Maybe, but why not encourage it anyway?
Thank you for making the right decision, Senator. I hope you use the remainder of your term to start fighting aggressively against the authoritarian MAGA regime. If you do, youāll go down in history as a hero, with the admiration of your constituents in you fully restored.
Yes absolutely š¢
His son was a childhood friend of mine. This description of him matches my recollections quite wellā¦
Avgi Saketopoulou, The Risk of Analysis
He's the kind of a man that you can't resent, that Frank!
Yes! I was obsessed with it in college. I saw it in London in 2008. I have the script somewhere, I should revisit it.
Ugh... I wish people would take more seriously the harm caused to individuals and society by these companies suggesting it is better (or just as good) to talk about your problems with a machine than with another human.
Compelling evidence that dems need to be doing things like this 10x/day everyday.
