Freud I
This is the first year-long Freud course of a two-year introduction to psychoanalysis. Freud’s foundational work evolved greatly over the nearly fifty years of his prolific writings, openly correcting himself as he went along in his clinical and theoretical work. His discoveries remain central to much of society’s thinking in the twenty-first century, even when its effects are unbeknownst to us. Concepts will be taught and discussed in an experience-near way, moving back and forth between esoteric theory and everyday living. We will bring to life what Freud meant by the adjective when he referred to the three “impossible” professions being psychoanalysis, teaching, and governance; and similarly, why psychoanalysis and philosophy are the foundations from which civilization has any chance of surviving in a livable manner. Key Freudian terms and concepts, often misused in general culture and in the mental health world, will be rigorously studied and discussed.
Schedule: Fall Semester: Wednesdays for fifteen meetings at 12:50 – 1:55 PM Mountain Time, beginning September 10, 2024. The instructor will be away two or three undetermined weeks through the semester, so the course will end at approximately mid- to late-December. CEU’s will be applied for. Meetings by Zoom.
Meetings by Zoom.
Initial reading assignments will be provided to students upon registration. Readings along the way will be determined by the progression of students’ and the class’s needs.
Instructor: Joseph Scalia III, Psya.D., Clinical Director
TO REGISTER, please go to our registration page and complete the form, or click here>>
Psychotic Savoir for the Clinic, for Civilization, and for Earth
The psychotic never experiences society’s story of itself as sensible, coherent, or mentally organizing. That is the case because the existence of mentally unrepresented senses of the world and of life are not accounted for by what the “paternal function” or the “masculine” tells us is reality. To not know that there is life beyond the social order, and to not live that knowledge in one’s bones, renders the psychoanalyst impotent. And our collective ignorance of the “feminine” – that which the paternal order cannot tell us – greatly imperils what might respectfully be called terra and demos. A knowing-beyond is what this course is calling “psychotic savoir.”
To live creatively as opposed to pathologically, the neurotic must overcome her/his tendency to believe the story, a story in which s/he takes refuge for the sake of belonging and social acceptance. In contrast, the psychotic must find a way to live generatively with the unmodulated verity of society’s false security, presumptuousness, and arrogance. It is in that undertaking that the psychotic might find a way beyond delusion, a way to a meaningful life contributing to society’s advancement. Is there not a psychotic core in all of us? Do we not all experience what Winnicott called the unthinkable anxieties of 1) going to pieces, 2) falling forever, 3) having no relationship to the body, 4) having no orientation?
What do these notions of neurosis and psychosis mean? Why savoir instead of knowledge? Why verity instead of truth? What is it to deeply grasp these meanings of the masculine, and the feminine? The course aims to bring these concepts into experience and wisdom. How do we recognize and then cure ourselves of the terror of the failure of society’s misrepresentations and illusions? In these regards, what is required of us as psychoanalysts and as contemporary world citizens to help move our patients and the human collective, respectively, into another subjectivity than feeble, unconscious capitulation?
It is crucial that we – as psychoanalysts and as contemporary world citizens, withstand violent projective identifications for the sake of the other’s transformation of emotional intensity, and for the sake of an ability to honor the otherness of our kindred. But it is furthermore necessary that we know that there is no full story, that there is always something left out. Additionally, we must come to find this knowledge emancipatory and then generative toward society and Earth. We must stand easily within the masses’ unconscious and apocalyptic refusals of verity. This course argues that, in the 21st century, this third mental space is the most important prerequisite of the psychoanalyst, the activist, and the world citizen.
Significantly, we will engage our topic both intellectually and psychodynamically. That is, firstly, we will attempt to grasp the concepts through the use of intellect. Secondly, we will take account of our individual and group capacities, dis-eases, and unconscious resistances. The latter will require a willingness to confront each other, and to be confronted by oneself and others, regarding blindspots occurring in our thinking and in our narratives of our relations to ourselves and each other.
Fall Semester: Tuesdays for fifteen meetings at12:50 – 1:55 PM Mountain Time, beginning September 10, 2024. The instructor will be away two or three undetermined weeks through the semester, so the course will end at approximately mid- to late-December. CEU’s will be applied for. Meetings by Zoom.
Tuition: $500, to be paid to the Colorado Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies (ccmps.net).
Reading Assignments will be chosen extemporaneously as the course progresses , but they will center around the thinking of the Analysts of the Freudian School of Quebec, of Christopher Bollas of the British Psycho-Analytical Society, and of Felix Guattari, independent psychoanalyst, philosopher, and activist in the latter part of the 20th century.
Instructor: Joseph Scalia III, Psya.D., Clinical Director
TO REGISTER, please go to our registration page and complete the form, or click here>>
Prior Offerings:
Saturday, June 15, 2024, 10 AM to Noon MDT, for Course 2 CEs
Fee $50
to be followed by a group discussion 12:15 to 1:15 MDT
Course Description
Joseph Scalia III, Psya.D. and Vic Stampley, LCSW will engage in a wide-ranging conversation that will especially include a concatenation of object relations and Lacanian theories as they apply to both clinical concerns and contemporary civilization. How do the works of Christopher Bollas, Jacques Lacan, D. W. Winnicott, and W. R. Bion flesh out themes of attention in each of them? How does society, especially today’s global society, affect clinical concerns and our experiences of being human? What are their conscious and unconscious determinants?
Stampley and Scalia have known each other for decades and together engage in a freeform dialogue that covers a lot of ground in a hands-on, experience-near way.
– 12:15-1:15 PM MDT: Following the presentation there will be a CCMPS community meeting from 12:15-1:15 to address the future needs of interested parties, students, and the institute. If this is relevant for you, please plan on attending that meeting to help us gain an understanding of your interests and desires for CCMPS and how we may further assist you.
– Zoom link will be provided on June 14 and 12 AM MDT.