PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY NOW 2010

Meeting the challenge of complexity together: Saturday 9 October 2010, Mermaid Theatre London

‘The challenge is therefore to a necessary complexity… It is in only very complex ways that we truly understand where we are.’
Raymond Williams, Politics and Letters

Psychoanalysis has found its place among the range of therapeutic and cultural approaches to modern life. The pressure to find pragmatic solutions to many of the common problems thrown up by social realities has risked marginalizing this approach; some have feared it might even be forgotten. But as the accelerating rate of social change creates new complexities, psychoanalytic approaches have found a natural, if challenging, habitat.
The conference will review some of the domains where the psychodynamic orientation is proving invaluable because it rejects the obvious and the superficial, and others where it is tenaciously struggling with challenges. These include: traditional concerns such as psychosexuality and development; issues arising from a changing society such as the complex family, and the impact of urbanisation on development; the consequences of the nature and pace of change for psychopathologies such as severe disorders of the self.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy NOW 2010 will seek to define new priorities and adventurously explore issues that need to be grappled with for all of us to have a genuine experience of our world.

9.30 – 9.45am Welcome and introduction
Malcolm Allen
Bruce Calderwood, Director of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, Department of Health

9.45 – 11.15am The contribution of psychoanalytic thinking to complexity
Chair M Fakhry Davids
Complexity: a developmental perspective - Peter Hobson
Trauma and complexity in modern ethnic conflicts - Vamik D Volkan

11.15 – 11.45am Coffee

11.45am – 1.05pm
Complex problems, complex situations
Breakout Sessions

1. Complex mental disorders: what works?
How do psychoanalytic approaches feature in terms of  the evidence base and NICE guidelines?
Chair Ronald Doctor
Presentations Peter Tyrer, Peter Fonagy

2. Complexity and chaos, containment and constraint
A panel presentation where leading social scientists and service  users consider the conflicts involved in public sector delivery of personality disorder services
Facilitators Nick Benefield, Rex Haigh

3. Complex connections: virtual worlds & inner worlds
What does internet sex offer, to the conscious but also the  unconscious mind, which renders it so compelling?
Chair Dickon Bevington
Presentations Heather Wood, Richard Graham

4. Complex lives
Therapeutic work in tough urban settings needs the insights of psychoanalysis, but…
Chair Matthew Patrick
Presentations Camila Batmanghelidjh, Lisa Baraitser

5. Complex interdependencies
What are the relationships between the individual, the family, and society as they impact on mental health and models of therapeutic intervention?
Chair Beverley Tydeman
Presentations Susanna Abse, Jean Knox

6. Complexity in the curriculum: sexuality in psychoanalytic training
Is there a drift away from teaching about sexuality in psychoanalytic training? What part should the subject play  in the training curriculum?
Chair Mary Target
Presentations Justin Richardson, David Morgan

1.15 – 2.15pm Lunch

Creating a modern profession for a diverse and complex world

2.15 – 3.30pm
How can we create a truly modern profession capable of operating in a diverse and complex world?
Chair David Bell
Presentations Malcolm Allen, Helen Morgan

3.30 – 3.50pm Tea

3.50 – 5.20pm Breakout Sessions

1. Why so white?
Keeping race in mind: psychoanalytic psychotherapy for a culturally diverse society
Chair Helen Morgan
Presentations Kamaldeep Bhui, Frank Lowe

2. Homosexuality – moving on
Creating a culture and practice that connects with people of diverse sexual orientations
Facilitators Jeremy Clarke, Mary Target, Trudy Klauber, Leezah Hertzmann, Justin Richardson

3. Working through conflict
How can psychoanalysis help in understanding and engaging with ideological and social conflict?
Presentations Vamik D Volkan, Andrew Cooper

4. Focus on primary care
What contribution can psychodynamic practitioners make to a primary mental health care service today?
Chair Mary Burd
Presentations Brian Rock, Nick Wood

5. ‘Product’ and ‘brand’ in a contemporary mental health market
What psychoanalytically-informed interventions can operate effectively within contemporary mental health care? How can they be promoted?
Chair Jenny Hyatt
Presentations Alessandra Lemma, Chris Mace

6. Training for tomorrow
Shaping a 21st century curriculum for psychoanalytic psychotherapy training
Chair Sally Griffin
Presentations Horst Kächele, James Johnston

5.20 – 6.00pm MOVING FORWARD
Report-backs and discussion
Chair Julian Lousada

6.00 – 7.30pm Reception and awards ceremony
Hosted by Kathy Lette, international bestselling author