Desire in the Consulting Room | London | 4th November 2017
Desire in the Consulting Room
With Dr Andrea Celenza, Professor Joy Schaverien and the reading of a play by Laurie Slade
Saturday 4 November 2017 – London
Venue: Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane London, NW3 5BA
09.30 Registration and coffee
“It has been said that psychoanalysis is all about sex; except for sex – that’s about aggression.”
Andrea Celenza
This day puts sexuality back in the frame of psychoanalytic theorising with the aim of demarcating a place for pure erotic longing within psychotherapy. Using clinical histories, relational/field theories and theatre to imaginatively represent a possible scenario of love and desire between a psychotherapist and patient, our speakers will elaborate the meanings of love in the consulting room, both as transferential and real. We will consider how desire can be formulated, whether internally, within the therapeutic couple or in supervision without threatening professional boundaries and ethical responsibilities. Our speakers will aim to uncover multiple meanings underlying erotic transferences as a defensive structure, and question if it is really possible to have a compelling attraction between the two people in the therapy relationship that is based on love rather than need. The afternoon will explore these questions via a piece of theatre, when we will look at how the supervisor may find the transformative potential of this enchanting but dangerous interpersonal dynamic.
Fees:
Early bird: £110.00 (until 21 August 2017)
Self-funded: £130.00 (from 22 August 2017)
Self-funded x 2: £200.00
Organisationally-funded: £200.00
Professor Joy Schaverien presentation covers
Breaking the Spell: Erotic Enchantment in Supervision
The erotic reveals much about the patient’s way of being in the world – but what of the psychotherapist? This talk takes as its starting point a quote from Kristeva: “During treatment the analyst interprets his desire and his love and that sets him apart from the perverse position of the seducer.” *
Falling in love (with its corollary hate) is at the centre of the psychoanalytic endeavour-but what does this mean? How do we address this in therapy and in the exposing co- operative enterprise that is supervision? In the process of analysis the analyst lends herself temporarily to a state of enchantment. Eros is mercurial and it may bring to the fore feelings, of love and intimacy; it may evoke issues of sexuality and gender confusion. It engages the ‘therapist-as-person’, and so potentially challenges the professional identity of the analyst. Exposing this to the gaze of the supervisor risks breaking the spell and facing feelings shame and so it takes courage. When erotic attractions are brought into the light of supervision, the seriously playful element that is Eros may facilitate its transformative potential.
*J. Kristeva (1983) Tales of Love NY: Columbia Universities Press. p.30
CPD Hours
Certificates of attendance for 6.5 hours will be provided at the event