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Annual Cape Cod Conference

Back to Basics II: Working with Resistance

Wellfleet, MA
July 7-11, 2008

Full institute $200 before June 21
$250 after June 21
$150 for students before June 21
$200 for students after June 21
Daily: $70

For more information or to register, contact bgsp@bgsp.edu or call 617-277-3915.

The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis hosts its twenty-fourth annual summer conference this year from July 7-11 in Wellfleet, MA.  Join us as BGSP faculty guide exploration of the theoretical and technical approaches to   resistance as it arises in the course of treatment, and in the course of our conference discussions.  Focus on the topic of resistance continues our discussion of the basic tenets of psychoanalysis which began last summer with the theme of transference.  This year we explore the theory and technique the therapist uses in working with resistance.

Hyman Spotnitz, the father of modern psychoanalysis, describes five kinds of resistance that occur in the course of treatment.  They are: treatment destructive, status quo, resistance to progress, resistance to cooperation and resistance to termination.  Each conference day will examine one type of resistance.  A case presentation will illuminate the arousal and handling of the status quo resistance.

MONDAY, July 7nd: WHAT IS A RESISTANCE AND WHY DO WE CARE? EARLY TREATMENT RESISTANCES
Jane Snyder
Lynn Perlman

The first morning session will provide an overview of psychoanalytic theory of resistance with an emphasis on modern psychoanalytic formulations on five types of resistance and their importance to analytic work.
The second half of the morning’s discussion will center on resistances that arise early in the treatment relationship. 

MONDAY EVENING, July 7nd: MAGIC FOR GROWNUPS
Eugene Goldwater

You have requested an urgent favor from a frog.  In return, he wants to sleep with you!  You feel nothing but disgust for this sleazy, slimy creature.  What should you do?

Long before the discovery of unconscious sexuality and aggression, the brothers Grimm gave the true answer to this and many other common life problems in their great collection of folk tales.  Unfortunately, modern adaptations often distort or suppress their advice—no, the princess in their story most certainly did not kiss the frog!  But we can still learn valuable lessons from the Grimms, and from other experts on the magic of everyday life, like Sigmund Freud and J.K. Rowling.

Find out what really happened, and what this story really teaches.  And be prepared to consider—and share your own experiences of—other issues of daily life, great and small, such as:

How to transform into a princess—in three seconds flat!

The Goddess, the Witch and the Wardrobe:  dress magic

Magical words, names and spells

Planes, trains and automobiles:  the magic of “inanimate” objects

Influences of Mars and Venus on Earth

Wands, charms, potions, rings—which are a few of your favorite things?  And why?

TUESDAY, July 8rd: STATUS QUO RESISTANCE
Elizabeth Dorsey and Pat Hugenberger

Status quo patterns appear in the treatment in a variety of forms.  Essentially, they involve a resistance to analytic progress and a communication of the message; “I don’t want anything new.”  There will be a brief description of the various forms which status quo resistance may take, followed by a case presentation and discussion. 

WEDNESDAY, July 9th: BREAK

THURSDAY, July 10th: PSYCHOANALYSIS AND PARENTING: RESISTANCE TO PROGRESS
Resistance to Cooperation
Eugene Goldwater
Mara Wagner

The resistance to progress encountered in the psychoanalytic relationship has precise parallels to children’s conflicts over “growing up.” Insight into how these issues play out both in the transference, and in the countertransference (analogous to the parent’s ambivalence about the child growing up) enables therapeutic attitudes and interventions.
The second half of the morning will explore resistance to cooperation.

FRIDAY, July 11th: ANALYSIS TERMINABLE AND INTERMINABLE
June Bernstein
Jill Solomon

As the conference draws to a close our thoughts turn to termination and our resistance to giving up meaningful relationships.  Is there such a thing as a completed analysis with a planned and worked through termination?  Or is the impulse to terminate on the part of either the analyst or the patient a resistance to an ever deeper mutual understanding beneficial to the patient’s life?  Are life-long analyses defensible as being in the best interest of the patient and/or are they a luxury for both patient and analyst?  We explore these issues in the context of saying goodbye at the end of our week together.