'talent development centre'

This workshop aimed to examine the Freudian concept of psychic pain as developed by Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott. In the morning Bob Hinshelwood and Jan Abram presented their interpretations of the conceptual evolutions on psychic pain in the work of Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott. The presenters will discuss some of the divergences and convergences related to the distinct approaches to early psychic development. To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps

From the start of life the human being, both physically and psychically, extends itself out into the world. For the infant, reaching out to its mother's breast is the physical analogue to the development of object relations and the internalisation of the other. The transition from object relating to object usage, to use Winnicott's words, entails the movement from relating to the other as object to relating to the other as subject, ultimately advancing to mutual recognition. In many ways, the digital world replicates a transitional space where the challenges and opportunities of object relating, object usage, and mutuality continue. The architecture of the digital world mediates relating in particular ways in league with psychodynamic motivations that invite meaningful psychological and emotional consequences in its users. The nature of relational intersubjectivity, as deployed across social networks, invites an economy of recognition in which extended selves are the traders in the relational marketplace. With over a billion of the world's population on Facebook, the psychodynamic consequences for individuals and our culture are an important locus of psychoanalytic research and analysis. To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps

Dr Deborah Lamont presented at our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies 20th Anniversary Conference on 'Removing barriers to learning: Putting psychodynamic theory into practice within a mainstream school setting' "This paper follows the development and subsequent emergence of a therapeutic provision within a large mainstream comprehensive school. It aims to demonstrate that educational organizations whose primary task is teaching and learning can also work therapeutically with students and staff without causing a split within the organization. Using Rex Haigh's 'Quintessence of a Therapeutic Environment' (1999) to provide a psychodynamic framework, the 'Oasis' provision has recently been recognised by Ofsted (2013) as demonstrating 'good practice' by 'helping students at risk of exclusion or persistent absence to achieve well'. The difficulties encountered in setting up the Oasis provision will be explored together with the ultimate benefits experienced by the students in terms of their attendance, attainment and their emotional well-being." Dr Deborah Lamont To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps/

In this talk, Sharon Broadley discusses how the application of learning from the TCTO course can be introduced in non-threatening ways into a residential children’s home for young people with emotional and social behaviour difficulties. It considers how containing staff anxiety led to more therapeutic ways of working including the ability to recognise and bear emotions and feelings that were at first unmanageable. It also explores the link between application of psychodynamic thinking and the subsequent recognition of positive outcomes for the home through Ofsted inspections. The professional and personal development of a children’s home manager as a result of the course is also examined. To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps

Carole Sawo, an alumni of our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, speaks at the Centre's 20th Anniversary. The book ’Pandora's Panacea ~ Holographic Works of Art' (2007) contains a plethora of uniquely presented thought-provoking concepts, such as a fourth stage of ego, that invites the reader to question not only that which they can see, but that which they cannot. The 'works in poetical progress', pushes the boundaries of contemporary psychological theory, spiritual interpretation, mystical musings and evolutions of consciousness. Primarily discussing the fundamental archetypal pattern in perpetual motion within the psyche, draws on artwork and fairytale (such as the Wizard of Oz) as interpretive metaphors for the human mind. The piece describes the path of associative psycho-spiritual development with emotional experiences indicative of an internal evolution of consciousness; together with the predictable trials, tribulations and eventual expansion of a mind in transition. This offers a beautiful alternative view of the myth of Pandora, containing a very curious contemporary twist and a deeper reflection on the Pandora within us - the book is in itself a hologram. The reader is invited to perceive both projection and reflection, to meet their mystical ego and resolve with their etherical self. We open Pandora's box, not out of curiosity, but rather in faith, fortitude, wisdom and love; the very qualities we need in our work of transformation. To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps/

Dr Christine Driver, of our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, speaks at the Centre's 20th Anniversary. "My work as a Jungian Analyst has not only made me aware of the impact of parental and family relationships and social and cultural experience on the development of the psyche but also how our sense of 'being' affects and is impacted on by these experiences. The concept of 'being' and ontology, the study of being, are hard to define. Heidegger examined them in Being and Time and R.D. Laing also considered ontology in The Divided Self. Laing examined 'ontological security and ontological insecurity', in other words the security and insecurity of being, in relation to tackling the 'hazards of life' in terms of the 'social, ethical, spiritual, and biological' (39). Ontology is therefore an important topic for anyone working therapeutically. It was introduced into the training curriculum where I work in the 1980s and I have recently written and co-edited a book entitled Being and Relating in Psychotherapy (Palgrave 2013) in which the concept of 'being' is the underlying motif. Ontology relates to all dimensions of the self -- body, psyche, social and spiritual. In this presentation I wish to explore how my ideas have developed in relation to the concept of 'being', consider how this concept relates to Jung's work and thinking and examine how it can enrich and enliven the theories and practice of psychotherapy when we combine the 'theories of mind' within the analytic profession with 'theories of being'." Dr Christine Driver To find out more about our Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies go to: http://www.essex.ac.uk/cps/