Psychoanalysis In Transition

GREX, affiliate of the A K Rice Institute

An Online International Group Relations Conference for Psychoanalysts and Jungian Analysts

<h2>Psychoanalysis In Transition: Exploring the Vista from Couch to Collective</h2><h3>An Online International Group Relations Conference for Psychoanalysts and Jungian Analysts</h3><h3>Sponsored by Grex, the west coast affiliate of the A. K. Rice Institute for the study of social systems and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations</h3><h3>Meeting hours are 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Pacific Coast US Time</h3><p><strong>English will be the working language</strong></p>

<h2>Conference Fees</h2><h3>Full Admission - $600 </h3><h3>Full Admission (GREX/AKRI) - $510</h3><h3>registration closes October 10</h3><p><strong>Register for the conference by clicking Tickets. Low income participants can inquire about reductions via email to conference administration.</strong></p><p><strong>Discounts for GREX/AKRI members refer to active organizational membership rather than attendance at sponsored conferences.</strong></p><h3><strong>I</strong>MPORTANT NOTE: The conference is an experiential integrated event depending on all participants to attend all sessions. </h3>

<p>Conference Administration Email is <strong>psychintransition@gmail.com</strong></p>

<h2>Gaining Insights through Collaboration</h2><p>Over the past several years, analytic institutes have begun to collaborate with the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems and its west coast affiliate center, GREX to study group dynamics in the unique group relations methodology.</p><p>This conference builds on such an endeavor.</p>

<h2>Introduction</h2><p>Psychoanalysis has been a central force in understanding the complex states of human experience – as individuals, as members in groups, in cultures, and in societies.</p><p>This reflection has never been more urgent as globalization and the current Covid-19 pandemic have transformed how people and systems communicate, live and work.</p><p>The lived experience of public and private, family and collective have been challenged in ways, previously unthought.</p><h3>How have we responded?</h3><p>Psychoanalysts and analytically oriented clinicians are taking up study of our evolving society which presses for full recognition of the reflective and refractive identity(ies) of individual and group.</p><p>Training programs are being altered to reflect the development of new formations of individual and the collective. Since analytic institutes are contained within the wider social context, they reflect both unique and socially constructed dynamics that impact their mission and primary tasks necessitating a better understanding of how they work.</p><h3>Conference Aims</h3><ul><li>Some of the questions we might explore through the medium of group relations:</li><li>What is being called forth from the profession at this time?</li><li>How can the discipline, rigor skills and talents of the analytic community be unleashed in service of our societal unfolding?</li><li>Can the Soul take its rightful place in the Psyche?</li><li>How might the profession transition if there was a shift toward exploring the culture and the society in the consulting room, as well as the “presenting individual”?</li></ul>

<h3>Some of the present challenges to psychoanalysts of all stripes:</h3><ul><li>Understanding and managing institute organizational dynamics</li><li>Managing intergenerational conflict</li><li>Managing the threatened survival of psychoanalysis</li><li>Challenges to addressing the interface between psychoanalysis and the community and society.  What can we offer?</li><li>Understanding the relationship of one’s “group self” to the clinical setting and to organizational life of groups</li></ul>

<h2>Group Relations Conference Methodology</h2><p>Group Relations conferences offer a learning methodology first developed by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in England, UK. The first Group Relations Conference was the 14-day Leicester Conference, held in 1957.</p><p>Since that time the model has been adapted and developed across the world by organizations such as GREX, OFEK and various other organizations in over 25 countries. Participants say that the learning is as profound now, as it was in 1957. </p><p>The integrity of the model has continued to be robust and stimulating even when offered in shorter conferences. More recently, courtesy of the COVID-19 lockdowns, online group relations conferences have taken place. These have been experienced as creating the conditions for study of the dynamics between groups and individuals in as powerful ways as on-land conferences. </p><p>Bion thought of the psychoanalytic dyad as a specialized group and thus found a theoretical and clinical continuity between the private self and the group self (our narcissism and our socialism as termed by Bion).</p><p>Both are studied from a psychoanalytic situation where the analyst or consultant enter into an intersubjective field and occupies a role to receive and harvest transference from the individual or the group. </p><p>In both instances, the consultant/analyst relies on his or her countertransference to “metabolize” the projections across a role boundary.  A distinguishing feature of the group relations model is that it is experiential learning and yet explicitly offers no therapeutic intent.</p><p>During a conference participants and consultant staff will create a temporary institution to experientially study covert and overt group processes through participating in groups that vary in size and structure.</p><p>All groups will have the primary task of studying the unfolding experience of the group-as-a-whole in the here and now.</p><p>The study may include how elements of diversity such as individual identities of race, class, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and education level are manifested and used consciously and unconsciously in groups.</p><h3>Basic Premise – The study of Authority and Leadership</h3><p>All human beings have a developmental journey from infancy to childhood to adulthood during which experiences take place that shape how we deal with authority figures. These authority figures, parents, care givers, teachers, doctors, therapists, bosses, law enforcement and others often cause us to react in patterned/automatic ways based on early experience. This also impacts how we might take up our own authority.</p><p>When human beings gather in order to achieve a purpose, there is a set of assumptions and behaviors that are conscious and drive their behavior and at the same time, there can exist another set of assumptions and behaviors that serve other purposes of which members are not conscious.</p><p>Leadership and followership are integral to the advancement of a group’s purpose. This conference is designed to create a temporary institution for the purpose of studying in real-time these phenomena.</p><p>One of the under acknowledged aspects of work as an analyst is the impact of the group dynamics within the home institute. Navigating the complexity of multiple roles, confidentiality, training, succession and maintaining relevance can become an overwhelming task. In light of this the development of leadership, followership and membership in Analytic institutes might be considered to be a 4th pillar in an analytic training (alongside the Scientific seminars, personal analysis and supervision). This interactive conference offers an opportunity to explore in real time how our identities, multiple roles and the conscious and unconscious group forces impact collective outcomes.</p>

<h3>Conference Schedule</h3><p>The conference is an integrated/evolving experience that requires full participation, that is attending all events. So be sure that you are available during the times/time zones of the conference.</p><p>We have designed a few asynchronous events to accommodate diverse time zones, but the body of the conference will be based on Pacific Daylight Time, GMT -9.</p><p>Daily meeting times on October 22,23,24 are 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Pacific Coast US time</p><p><em>All events begin and end promptly.</em></p><h3>Conference Staff</h3><p>The conference will be directed by Leslie Brissett, Director of the Group Relations Program at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, London.</p><p>The staff will be experienced group relations consultants with a deep appreciation for psychoanalysis. Staff numbers will be adjusted based on the number of participants.</p>

<h2>Conference Events</h2><h3>Opening &amp; Closing Plenaries</h3><p>The conference opens and closes in plenary sessions involving all parts of the conference. The plenaries further the process of crossing the boundary into and out of the conference and each event. The final conference closing plenary also allows for studying the process of ending relationships. </p><h3>Small Study Group</h3><p>Each Small Study Group consists of up to 12 participants working with 1 consultant. Its primary task is to learn about the dynamics of small groups and the formation of leadership and followership relationships as they happen in the group. It is an experiential ‘here-and-now’ event in which the behaviour of the group is placed under a high-resolution microscope and the group has the opportunity to study its own behavior as it happens, with the help of consultancy. The unit of study is the group and not the individual.</p><h3>Large Study Group</h3><p>The Large Study Group comprises the whole conference membership working together with 2-4 consultants. The primary task of this event is to provide opportunities for studying the dynamics of large groups and the processes of cohesion and fragmentation, mythmaking and reality-testing as they happen in the group, through the exploration of the myths, beliefs, assumptions, identities and dreams that emerge. Again, the unit of study is the group and not the individual.</p><h3>Organizational Event</h3><p>An opportunity for participants to form groups to explore relevant subjects and to examine how parts of the whole conference organization are related.</p><h3>Review and Application Group</h3><p>Review and Application Groups provide opportunities for participants to review and reflect on their experiences of the day and how they are taking up their different roles in the conference. Towards the latter half of the conference, these sessions will focus on application – how the participants hope to transfer their conference learning into their back-home organizations.</p><h3>Dream Wall Padlet (Asynchronous)</h3><p>An online bulletin board available throughout the conference to allow members and staff to post dreams, associations, images and media links that emerge in relation to the conference experience.</p><h3>Knowledge Exchange/Special Interest Groups (Asynchronous)</h3><p>An online location to allow sharing of relevant articles and potential post conference special interest groups.</p>

<p><strong>please</strong> <strong>email the conference administration if you have any questions</strong></p><p><strong>psychintransition@gmail.com</strong></p>

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