New Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Prejudice:
Making a Difference in Society

A Conference for the Application of Psychoanalysis
to Problems in Society

Co Sponsored by the Harry Stack Sullivan Society
William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Society and
Contemporary Psychoanalysis

Saturday October 18, 2008

at the Auditorium of the
New York Blood Center
310 East 67th Street
between 1st and 2nd Ave.
New York City

About the Conference

The William Alanson White Institute has, from its inception, been attuned to the impact of cultural and societal impingements on mental health. Several of the Institute’s founders, including Harry Stack Sullivan, Erich Fromm, and Clara Thompson, also believed that psychoanalysis has the potential to improve society.

With that spirit in mind, this one-day conference will explore contemporary psychoanalytic ideas about the problem of prejudice, from individual pathology to intergroup tensions. This will be discussed by speakers from various viewpoints. The conference will include cutting edge theoretical positions, integrative perspectives that include social psychology and political psychology, as well as clinical experiences. There will be ample opportunity for the audience to participate with questions and impressions.

The intention of psychoanalytic theorists and practitioners has always been to play a positive role in people’s lives. This is usually limited to the interaction between two people, the clinician and patient in the privacy of a consultation. From time to time in the history of psychoanalysis the ideas and experiences of the field have been applied to problems on a wider scale. Many significant thinkers in the history of psychoanalysis have envisioned the use of psychoanalytic knowledge to change the problematic aspects of society. We hope this conference will stimulate additional work toward this end.

Program Committee

Toni Andrews, Ph.D., Ron Aviram, Ph.D., Frank Marrocco, Ph.D., Marcelo Rubin, Ph.D.,
Dorota Uzdawinis, Dipl. -Psych.

Program

Speakers:

Neil Altman, Ph.D. is Adjunct Clinical Professor, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York University. Former Joint Editor in Chief, Psychoanalytic Dialogues: The International Journal of Relational Perspectives. Author, The Analyst in the Inner City: Race, Class and Culture through a Psychoanalytic Lens and numerous articles on race, racism and prejudice.

Ron B. Aviram, Ph.D. is Supervisor of psychotherapy at New York Presbyterian Hospital; past President of the Sullivan Society at the William Alanson White Institute. In 2006 winner of paper prize from the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies “Object relations and prejudice: From ingroup favoritism to outgroup hatred; Author, The Relational Origins of Prejudice, to be released in Fall 2008.

Mark J. Blechner, Ph.D. is Fellow, Training and Supervising Analyst, and Teaching Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute and at New York University; Editor-in-Chief, Contemporary Psychoanalysis. He has published two books: Hope and Mortality: Psychodynamic Approaches to AIDS and HIV (1997); and The Dream Frontier (2001), both with The Analytic Press.

Forrest Hamer, Ph.D. is an Oakland, California psychologist and affiliate member of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of several essays on race and psychoanalysis (one of which won the 2000 Affiliate Council Paper Prize from the American Psychoanalytic Association), and three books of poetry-Call & Response (Alice James, 1995; winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award; Middle Ear (Roundhouse, 2000; winner of the Northern California Book Award); and Rift (Four Way Books, 2007).

Kimberlyn Leary, Ph.D. is the Director of Psychology and Psychology Training at the Cambridge Health Alliance and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School where she is engaged in interdisciplinary inquiry on relational processes in negotiation and in clinical practice. This year she is attending the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University on a Public Services Fellowship to study public administration.

Vamik D. Volkan, M.D., DLFAPA, FACPsa is Doctor of Medical Science Honoris Causa (University of Kuopio, Finland {2005}and University of Ankara, Turkey{2006}). Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Senior Erik Erikson Scholar, Erikson Institute for Education and Reasearch of the Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA. Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus, Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Washington, DC.

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Ph.D. is faculty of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. She is the author of The Anatomy of Prejudices; biographies of Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World, and Anna Freud: A Biography, Creative Characters, Subject to Biography, Cherishment: A Psychology of the Heart (with Faith Bethelard), and Where Do We Fall When We Fall In Love? Recently, she published a short book called Why Arendt Matters to mark Arendt's centenary. Her private practice is in Manhattan's East Village.

Registration

SPACE IS LIMITED AND ADVANCED REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED. A number of financial aid scholarships are available to students. Please contact Sondra Wilk, Ph.D. at 212-873-7788.

Professionals:
$125 before September 10th
$145 before October 10th
$165 after October 10th and at door

Graduate Students and Institute Candidates:
$ 75 before September 10th
$ 95 before October 10th
$115 after October 10th and at door

To pay by check Click here for Registration Form

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Professionals  

Graduate Students and Institute Candidates