BGSP News & Notes

News from the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis

Issue #3 , April, 2004

Edited by Stephen Soldz & Virginia Elliott

Welcome to the latest issue of BGSP News & Notes! This is an occasional e-mail newsletter to keep people informed about what's going on at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. We will present information about recent and upcoming school events, faculty and student publications and presentations, continuing education classes, and other news of interest to the BGSP community.
[If you do not wish to receive this Newsletter, see instructions on how to remove your name at the bottom.]

After many years as President, BGSP founder Phyllis Meadow has resigned her Presidency. She has become the school's Provost. Dr. Dena Reed has been appointed BGSP's Acting President by the Board. Dr. Stephen Hayes, Board Chairman has written the following Letter to the BGSP Community (pdf).

The discussion of his latest book, On the Freud Watch, by noted author and historian of psychoanalysis Paul Roazen has been postponed to April 24.

BGSP Provost (and former President) Phyllis W. Meadow was interviewed by Matt Schaefer on Boston radio station WBCN (104.1 FM) on February 29, 2004. You can listen to her interview online.

BGSP faculty member Stephen Soldz was on a television panel discussion about bullying and relational aggression. The show, broadcast throughout Massachusetts during March by Comcast, is part of a regular series of shows, The Safety Net, produced by the Brookline Health Department and hosted by former state legislator Ronnie Sydney. Dr. Soldz spoke about research on relational aggression by adolescents and adults.

He pointed out that traditional identifications of human aggression with physical violence are unduly limiting and that people can hurt one another through the manipulation of relationships. Such "relational aggression" uses such techniques as gossip and social exclusion to hurt. Many researchers are finding that the hurt experienced from relational aggression can be as great as that from more overt aggression. Dr. Soldz and faculty member Jane Snyder, along with VSP students Leah Towne and Daniela Colodro are currently conducting a study of relational aggression among adolescents.

The February 6 talks by three BGSP faculty members at a Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice forum can now be listened to online [thanks to the recording efforts of Freeman Z]:

1. Introduction to Forum (Stephen Soldz)
   
2. Introduction to Stephen Price
   
3. The Role of Sacrifice (Stephen Price)
   
4. Introduction to Jane Snyder
   
5. Power and Paranoia (Jane Snyder)
   
6. Security, Terror, and Empire (Stephen Soldz)

Keep your eyes open for the compelling new Treatment Service ad on the Red Line trains that will be displayed through April. The ad shows a vibrant child swinging by his arms with the invitation to "Stretch Yourself." You'll notice on the eye-catching poster the name change from Treatment Service to The Therapy Center. Color copies of the poster will be available for display in your offices and clinics on April 10. To receive these posters, contact Therapy Center staff personnel by calling 617-277-3910. To view the ad click here (pdf).

A version of the same eye-catching ad also advertises the degree and clinical programs at BGSP. There will also be tear-off sheets on this ad that can be viewed by clicking here (pdf).

We have received an enthusiastic response to the call for art work in the last newsletter. Oils, photographs, mosaics, pastels and other works on paper are awaiting the opening scheduled for June 4, 2004. We will have a reception beginning after classes that evening with the artists on hand. Please feel free to invite anyone you think may be interested.

The gallery will also be open Saturday, June 5, 2004 and Sunday, June 6, 2004 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in conjunction with the Brookline Open Studios Weekend. The inaugural show, open to BGSP faculty, graduates and their families, will hang through the end of the semester, to be followed by a student show in the fall. The committee, Art and Life,is open to ideas about upcoming shows that will help bring interested participants and viewers to the school. Please contact Dr. Wagner, Mr. Morrell, Ms. Ryan or Ms. Shalom with questions. Artists needing to finish submitting works, bios or descriptions for the opening show, please make haste. We are assembling the catalog now

Central to the Masters and Clinical Programs is the experience garnered by each student through their externship in the field observing psychosis. BGSP Instructor Jill Solomon has been named to coordinate the placement of students in the community. Ms. Solomon is gratified in her efforts in that “The field placement is enriching to the students and to the placement community as well.” Her work takes her to institutions and organizations in a variety of areas, as she builds a link with a wider range of placement settings. Primarily, these are day treatment programs, nursing homes and residential treatment programs.

Saturday, April 10 at 5 pm, internationally known concert pianist Paul Sheftel will play a private performance for VSP faculty and their families. Mr. Sheftel presents Bach from one of his current series and will play our wonderfully magnificent piano.

BGSP will be holding an Open House for prospective students Friday, April 30, 5:30-6:30.

Information sessions for new students will be held at VSP on : April 23, 4-5pm, April 25 and May 23, 12 noon-1pm.

This month's extension division offerings run a lovely gamut from Clinical to Enjoyable. Check out our website for details: www.bgsp.edu.

• Saturday, April 10, 11:00-12:30 am
  BRAIN FOR PSYCHOANALYSTS
  Mary Shepherd will present how brain research can explain how we think and feel.
• Friday, April 16, 7-9 pm
  LITERATURE SALON: CELEBRITIES IN DISGRACE
  Come and discuss our fascination with Celebrities, and other forms of voyerism!
  Claudia Luiz, Cert. Psya, and Elizabeth Searle, author
• Friday, April 16, 1-4
  INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: BEYOND THE ECLECTIC
  Learn how to integrate psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches towards a unified theory.
  Dr. William Packard
• Monday, April 26, 7-9 pm
  PSYCHOANALYSIS AND A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
  Learn what psychoanalysis can contribute to our understanding of the current threats to an ecologically sustainable future.
  Dr. Frances Bigda-Peyton
• Thursday, April 29, 7-9 pm
  MADNESS AND WRITING
  Find the method to the madness of writing
  Helen Michael, LICSW, Cert. Psya.
• Thursday, May 13, 7-9 pm
  THE JOURNEY
  How to adapt to life's shifting landscapes even if the destination is unknown.
  Jill Solomon, LICSW, Cert. Psya.
• Friday, May 14, 7-9 pm
  THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF WAR AND EMPIRE
  Discuss unconscious motivation in US foreign policy and popular reaction to it.
  Stephen Soldz, Ph.D., Cert. Psya.

• Trichotillomania / edited by Dan J. Stein, Gary A. Christenson, Eric Hollander. 1st ed. Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Press, c1999.
• Person, Ethel Spector. Feeling strong : the achievement of authentic power / Ethel S. Person. 1st ed. New York : W. Morrow, c2002.
• Matte Blanco, Ignacio.
  Thinking, feeling, and being : clinical reflections on the fundamental antinomy of human beings and world / Ignacio Matte-Blanco. London ;New York : Routledge, 1988
• Oremland, Jerome D.
  The origins and psychodynamics of creativity : a psychoanalytic perspective / Jerome D. Oremland. Madison, Conn. : International Universities Press, c1997.
• Essays in honor of Weston LaBarre / edited by L. Bryce Boyer, Simon A. Grolnick. Hillsdale, N.J. : Analytic Press : Distributed by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1988.
• Pyszczynski, Thomas A.
  In the wake of 9/11 : the psychology of terror / Tom Pyszczynski, Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, c2003.
• Lifton, Robert Jay, 1926-
  Superpower syndrome : America's apocalyptic confrontation with the world / by Robert Jay Lifton. New York : Thunder's Mouth Press/Nations Books, c2003.
• Black, Donald W., 1956- Bad boys, bad men : confronting antisocial personality disorder / Donald W. Black with C. Lindon Larson. New York : Oxford University Press, c1999
• Billig, Michael.
  Freudian repression : conversation creating the unconscious / Michael Billig. Cambridge, United Kingdom ;New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Roazen, Paul, 1936-
  On the Freud watch : public memoirs / Paul Roazen. [London] : Free Association Books, 2003.
• Dundes, Alan.
  Bloody Mary in the mirror : essays in psychoanalytic folkloristics / Alan Dundes. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2002.
• Hood, Albert B. (Albert Bullard), 1929- Assessment in counseling : a guide to the use of psychological assessment procedures / Albert B. Hood and Richard W. Johnson. 3rd ed. Alexandria, VA : American Counseling Association, c2002.
• Greenberg, Harvey R.
  Screen memories : Hollywood cinema on the psychoanalytic couch / Harvey Roy Greenberg. New York : Columbia University Press, c1993.

Recent studies of interest we've come across:

A recent study finds: Psychotherapy May Help Hypochondriacs.

New research supports part of Freud's dream theory -- dreams include material that the person is trying to avoid thinking about: Study Backs Freud’s Dream Theory.

The British Economist discusses the situation of psychoanalysis in Britain, as short-term therapies move into its territory: Shrink to fit.

"I do not know if it has ever been noted before that one of the main characteristics of life is discreteness. Unless a film of flesh envelops us, we die. Man exists only insofar as he is separated from his surrondings. The cranium is a space-traveler's helmet. It may be wonderful to mix with the landscape, but to do so is the end of the tender ego."