Clinical Reflections Conference ~ February 24, 2024

Saturday, February 24, 2024
9:00 am-12:15 pm ET Time
3.0 CE Credits

The Haunting Echoes of an Emptying Split: Reimagining the Emotional Violence and Developmental Effects of Caste Through an Intersubjective Lense

Featuring Reva Puri, MA and Manali Arora, MA

This presentation delves into the emotional violence and developmental impacts of caste in India. Through a clinical vignette, it illustrates how psychic reality is not only impacted by, but also constructed within the constraints of one’s caste identity: Caste influences which parts of the self are recognized, allowed to develop, or are arrested prematurely. Engaging with the complexities of caste in the context of psychoanalytic practice in India, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that seeks to use, incorporate and extend conceptualisations of Green’s “negative hallucination”, Layton’s “psychosocial attacks on linking”, Bion’s idea of “container-contained”, and Benjamin’s theorisation of “mutual recognition” to address the entrenched psychosocial realities of caste. The presentation underscores the importance of working through these inner realities for both the patient and the therapist. Reva Puri and Manali Arora offer insights to psychotherapists in navigating various forms of cultural and psychosocial hierarchies and stratifications within the clinic, with a particular focus on the complexities of caste in the Indian subcontinent.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this conference, participants will be able to:

1. Apply to the complexities posed by caste Green’s concept of “negative hallucination”, Layton’s work on psychosocial attacks on linking, Bion’s ideas of “container-contained” and Benjamin’s emphasis on mutual recognition as “freedom from the doer done-to” dynamic.
2. Discuss how to work intersubjectively with caste to favor mutual recognition, even when caught in the enactment of the binaries of ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor.’
3. Explore how the therapeutic process of working through is shaped and influenced by entrenched psychosocial realities, both those of the patient and the therapist.

References
Haq, S. (2023). Not evil, just sad: Racial melancholia and its agonies. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 32(6), 610-614. https://doi.org/10.1080

/10481885.2022.2138077

Layton, L. (2019). Transgenerational hauntings: Toward a social psychoanalysis and an ethic of dis-illusionment. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 29(2),

105-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2019.1587992

Reed, G. (2015). André Green on the theory and treatment of “non-neurotic” patients. Psychoanalytic review, 102(5), 649-658. https://doi.org/10.1521

/prev.2015.102.5.649

Bios
Reva Puri, MA is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist practicing in India and a member of the IARPP (International Association of Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis). Her clinical work has germinated into her research preoccupations including the formation of gendered subjectivity, the impact of caste on one’s self and relationships, the complexities of intergenerational trauma within colonisation etc. Her research has been published in magazines such as “In Plainspeak” and journals such as “The Contemporary Literary Review India.” She has also presented her work at numerous international conferences. She is passionate about making psychoanalytic training accessible in India and runs an experiential group for early career practitioners in addition to her analytic lectures.

Manali Arora, MA is a psychodynamic psychotherapist in India. She is currently positioned as a psychologist and a researcher at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India and a psychotherapist in private practice. Additionally, she is also a fellow at the Psychoanalytic Fellowship program by the Washington Baltimore Centre for Psychoanalysis. She has a profound interest in addressing underexplored areas in the Indian Psychoanalytic landscape, particularly sibling relationships and working with marginalized communities.
Her article was recently published in the New Association’s Magazine of the British Psychoanalytic Council. She has also presented her work at international conferences such as the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS) and is presenting at the upcoming International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) conference.

The Integration of Somatic-based Strategies into Couples therapy

Featuring Deborah J Fox, MSW, LICSW

Couples therapy is challenging in many ways because there are two people who are in distress, each wanting more from their partner, each wanting to be understood and to feel more connected. A common denominator in a variety of approaches to treating couples is verbal communication. This relies on what is available cognitively to the couple. However, sources of tension and disconnection are often outside of their awareness, limiting the effectiveness of the treatment. This presentation discusses how somatic interventions can be adapted to therapy with a couple. Somatic-based approaches have strategies that both enable clients to access emotional experience that is held in their implicit memory and is outside of awareness; and to regulate nervous system response, which is necessary to fully avail oneself of the growth process of therapy. Key components are providing and maintaining structure in session, tracking the body for signs of nervous system activation, and employing strategies for nervous system regulation. A somatic-based approach enables couples to communicate more effectively, respond to each other emotionally, solve problems between them and sets the conditions for memory reconsolidation to take place.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this conference, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how a longing to connect with one’s partner conflicts with the biological imperative of survival.
2. Describe two interventions to employ when a client exhibits signs of nervous system dysregulation.
3. Explain why focusing on physical sensations can illicit valuable emotional information that is inhibiting emotional connection in a couple.

References
Kailanko, S., Wiebe, S. A., Tasca, G.A., & Laitila, A. A. (2022). Somatic interventions and depth of experiencing in emotionally focused couple therapy.

International Journal of Systemic Therapy, 33(2), 109-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/2692398X.2022.2041346

Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing – Effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy:

A scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023

Porges, S.W. (2022). Polyvagal theory: A science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 16, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227

Bio
Deborah J Fox, MSW, LICSW is a clinical social worker with over thirty-five years of experience in private practice in Washington, DC. She is a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and an AASECT Certified Sex therapist, providing individual, couples and group psychotherapy, as well as clinical consultation. Deborah lectures on the integration of mind-body strategies into couples therapy, sex therapy, and the treatment of sexual trauma, as well as conducting small group seminars and consultation groups. Her most recent publication is “The Integration of Somatic-based Strategies into Couples Therapy” (Clinical Social Work Journal, Oct 2023). You’re welcome to visit Deborah at www.debfox.com.

Fellow Travelers

Featuring Matthew R. Schottland, PsyD

In this presentation, Matthew Schottland explores a clinical case with a young adult gay male patient. The therapist considers various unique developmental challenges from a self-psychology lens that impact gay adult men’s sense of self, interpersonal relationships, and romantic and sexual life. The presenter reflects on his own sense of self and development of sense of self both past and present and looks at what is activated for him in his work with his patient. The presenter explores how Kohut’s twinship shows up and plays out for both him and his patient as they move through the therapeutic process and the developing therapeutic relationship.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this conference, participants will be able to:

1. Name unique developmental challenges that many gay and bisexual men may face as adolescents and young adults, and provide examples of how these challenges may manifest as emotionally dysregulated behavior.
2. Articulate ways to discuss extra-therapeutic run-ins with clients with whom a therapist might share major sociocultural identifications.
3. Give examples of ways to ethically manage dual relationships when working in small communities.

References
Belkin, M. (2018). Who is queer around here? Overcoming rigid thinking and relating in patient and analyst. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 54(3),

484-510. https://doi.org/10.1080/00107530.2018.1491163

Cavitch, M. (2016). “Do you love me?” The question of the queer child of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, 21(3), 256-274.

https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2015.22

Guzzardi, S. (2022). The only fag around: Twinship needs in gay childhood. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 70(3), 437-458.

https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651221104479

Bio
Matthew R. Schottland, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice with an office in Farragut Square. Dr. Schottland conducts individual psychotherapy and couples counseling from a psychodynamic/existential theoretical lens with adults ranging from college age through their 60’s. The majority of his clients identify as LGBTQ. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Schottland teaches as an adjunct faculty member within the Human Sciences Department at Georgetown University. Dr. Schottland is currently working on developing a course on Psychedelics, including Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and philosophical and spiritual issues raised by entheogens. Dr. Schottland recently completed the CAPP two-year continuing education certificate program at ICP+P.