The Neuropsychoanalysis Society of Israel monthly meeting

 

The Neuropsychoanalysis Society of Israel
is delighted to invite you to their monthly meeting.

Dr. Aner Govrin will present his lecture:

Center and Margin in Mainstream Psychoanalysis:
The Case of Neuropsychoanalysis  

Discussant: Prof. Mark Solms
Event facilitator: Ms. Irith Barzel-Raveh

To register, please click here to enter your details. This meeting is free of charge.

What is the monthly meeting of INPSA?
At these times, days of Corona, the Neuropsychoanalysis Society of Israel, has decided to open its doors for its monthly meetings to the whole community of therapists. It has been over twenty years now that the society has been holding gatherings of various kinds; one of these is the “large group” monthly gathering. The composition of the large group reflects the society’s goals: to promote the building of bridges between the psychodynamic therapeutic professions and the medical professions – first and foremost neurology and brain-science. We attempt to draw our research methodologies closer together, thinking cultures and discourses by grounding our assumptions in the philosophical standpoint of dual-aspect monism: we assume there is one mind that we are looking at from different perspectives.

The gatherings are conducted once a month, for three hours. At the beginning of each one member presents a topic s/he has been developing, then we hold a discussion and conclude the meeting with 15-minutes of reflection time. This tradition is aimed at reflecting on what can be further developed, what emerged personally or as a group, and especially on the learning process. The aim of these gatherings is to promote creativity and open-mindedness in its participants in order to enable each to develop their area of interest. The Society supports the professional development of its members and is grounded in psychoanalytically informed thinking.

The following are the details of our next meeting:

Abstract
This lecture will discuss the intricate relations between Neuropsychoanalysis and mainstream Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic communities tend to show suspiciousness to non-psychoanalytic bodies of knowledge, and to dismiss their relevancy for the clinical encounter. This dismissive attitude is regarded by many as part of psychoanalysts’ indoctrination, arrogance, and over-fascination with their own theories. 

My aim here is to provide an alternative explanation to psychoanalysts’ reluctance to be influenced by other non-psychoanalytic sciences, in particular Neuroscience. This explanation is different from the usual arguments of psychoanalysts against Neuropsychoanalysis that center around the incongruity between Neuropsychoanalysis and the specificity of psychoanalysis (such as interpreting unconscious meaning based on free associations).

Here I would like to explore the “psychoanalyst mind” in the same manner that an anthropologist explores a mind of a rare tribe: through non-judgmental observation that will enable me to “get into the head” of the psychoanalyst. This kind of exploration will reveal that the resistance of psychoanalysts to Neuropsychoanalysis does not stem from arrogance, but from an inherent quality within psychoanalytic knowledge – the full reliance on a complete and all-encompassing psychoanalytic narrative. Based on this exploration I will discuss ways by which Neuropsychoanalysis can evolve by becoming more meaningful to the psychoanalytic daily practice or by celebrating its uniqueness and marginality.

Bios
Dr. Aner Govrin, (PhD) is a clinical psychologist and a psychoanalyst. He is a director of a doctoral track “Psychoanalysis and Hermeneutics” at The Program for Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies at Bar-Ilan University, and a member of Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis (TAICP). He is the author of Between Abstinence and Seduction – The Philosophy of American Psychoanalysis, Conversations with Michael Eigen (co-authored with Michael Eigen), Conservative and Radical Perspectives on Psychoanalytic Knowledge – The Fascinated and the Disenchanted, and Ethics and Attachment – How We Make Moral Judgments.

Prof. Mark Solms (PhD) is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his integration of psychoanalytic theories and methods with those of modern neuroscience. He is Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology) and is Training Director of the South African Psychoanalytical Association. He is also Research Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association, Science Director of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He founded the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society in 2000, and has been Co-Chair of it ever since. He won the Sigourney Prize in 2011. He is the authorized editor and translator of the forthcoming Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 vols), and the Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 vols). He has published over 300 articles and book chapters and eight books. His most recent books are The Feeling Brain (Karnac) and Beyond Evolutionary Psychology (Cambridge). His earlier book, The Brain and the Inner World (Karnac) was a best-seller and was translated into 13 languages.

Ms. Irith Barzel-Raveh is a clinical psychologist and supervisor in psychotherapy. She studied with Prof. Heinz Prechtel General Movement of fetuses, preterm and young babies, And with David Guttman Leadership in the International Forum of Social Innovations in Paris. She was the head clinical psychologist of the Neuropediatric Infant development unit of Tel Aviv area, and 26 Interdisciplinary well baby clinics. She was the coordinator in Sackler school of medicine of a course in “Normalcy in Infancy”, and taught with Psychotherapists from the Tavistock Clinic “Infant observation” in various institutions to transdisciplinary professionals, around the country. She has been the initiator and coordinator of an international course named: “Ferenczi in the clinic” which was carried out in 7 cities around the world within the international Sandor Ferenczi Network. In the last 20 years She is the founder and Chairwoman of The Neuropsychoanalysis Society of Israel and Founder member and Board member of The International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. She works in her private clinic. Irith Barzel-Raveh is a doctorate student in Bar-Ilan University in “Hermeneutic and Psychoanalysis” interdisciplinary unit, under the supervision of Prof. Mark Solms and Dr. Aner Govrin.