DALLAS SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY
Exploring and promoting the psychoanalytic perspective

Contents

February Meeting Preview
Review of January Meeting
Arts Event
March Workshops
Announcements
DSPP/FAIRHILL Scholarship Competition

FEBRUARY MEETING PREVIEW

When Assaults to Body Image are not Fantasies:
Analytic Work with Physically Impaired Patients
Presenter:
Krista Jordan, Ph.D.

In February, Krista Jordan, Ph.D., a former member of DSPP and now a member of the Austin society, will give a presentation on her interesting work with people who have physical disabilities. These patients have experienced serious assaults to their bodily integrity and hence body image. Dr. Jordan will explore issues of the very real and poignant struggle for hope in their lives. Welcome back to Dr. Jordan, a student when DSPP first nurtured her interest in psychoanalysis and now a mature colleague!

Selected Readings:
Yorke, C. (1980). Some comments on the psychoanalytic treatment of patients with physical disabilities. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 61: 187-193.
Luhrmann, T. M. (2000). Madness and moral responsibility. In Of two minds: The growing disorder in American psychiatry (pp 266-293).

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REVIEW OF JANUARY MEETING

Little Children, Big Problems: Primary Prevention
with Damaged Children in Disturbed Families

Presenter: Dale Lang Roskos, Ph.D.
Reviewed by: Deann Ware, Ph.D.

Dale Lang Roskos, Ph.D., a past president and founding member of DSPP, presented material at the January meeting concerning psychoanalytic work in a primary prevention clinic with children at high risk for abuse and/or neglect. Dr. Roskos provided an overview of the philosophy of the clinic, described the therapeutic work with the children and their mothers, and shared the unique aspects of working with such populations as experienced by staff members.

Dr. Roskos was the Director of the Child Development Center of Topeka, Kansas, in the late 1970’s. The Center served children who were abused, neglected, emotionally disturbed, developmentally delayed, and/or being raised by a parent with a major mental illness. The Center’s philosophy was rooted in the belief that preventive interventions were essential during the earliest years of the child’s life, preferably during the first 24 months. Treatment planning for the children was based on psychoanalytic theory, including instruction from the works of Freud, Mahler, Klein, Winnicott, and Erickson. The children attending the Center were not medicated. The parents (the mother in the cases presented) were also incorporated into the treatment. A major thrust of the treatment involved helping the mothers work through significant issues in their pasts which were impeding their abilities to mother effectively.

Much of the therapeutic work was accomplished around routine tasks such as diapering, feeding, supervising the children’s play, etc. In addition, when children were developmentally advanced enough to attend the Center preschool classes, parents were required to spend one day each week in the classroom with their children. Staff modeled appropriate behaviors, provided hands-on instruction, and facilitated positive interactions between mother and child. The mothers also attended individual and group psychotherapy. In addition to these more structured interventions, the mothers benefited from less formal interventions. For example, mothers who rode the same bus to the center formed social groups. The mothers’ inclusion in their children’s preschool instruction allowed the mothers to engage in juvenile activities they had missed as children. This opportunity decreased the envy the mothers felt regarding the special opportunities their children were receiving, as the mothers had generally lived deprived childhoods themselves. Plentiful oral gratifications were provided for mothers and their children by the hospital’s kitchen.

Dr. Roskos described the arduousness of working with this population. Several case examples were shared in which the physical well being of a child was at stake. Fortunately, the Center staff was highly skilled, emotionally available, and well equipped to deal with such crises. The teachers were supervised by a psychoanalytically oriented doctor of education. This supervision involved aspects of the educational work, the emotional needs of the children, and management of difficult countertransference. Dr. Roskos also received several hours of psychoanalytically based supervision per week, which she deemed invaluable in supporting her in the difficult work she was performing.

While such long term, comprehensive primary prevention programs are rare today, one can certainly understand the benefits of such a program to disadvantaged children, as well as to society in terms of cost/benefit analysis. Those in attendance at the meeting were curious as to the source of the funding (the program was funded by Topeka State Hospital) and the fate of the program (funding for the program was terminated several years after Dr. Rosko’s tenure as Director). Ensuing discussion involved the lack of comprehensive programs available today, as well as the many governmental restrictions and inadequacies that often interfere with attempts at successful treatments with these populations.

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DSPP Community Relations Committee
Presents

PETER FONAGY, PH.D.
STUART TWEMOW, M.D.

Preventing Mass Murder in Schools: 
Understanding Violent Children from “Peaceful” Families

Afternoon Professional Seminar
Evening Public Program

March 15, 2001

The National Campaign Against Youth Violence suggests the best time to stop youth violence is before it starts. The Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology has invited Dr. Peter Fonagy and Dr. Stuart Twemlow to share their expertise regarding this critical issue confronting our communities. They will present a coordinated look at violence in schools, integrating work on the significance of early social relationships (attachment) with that of power dynamics, and suggest interventions to reduce violence in schools.

Complete details available on the website www.dspp.com
For questions or additional information contact:
Cheryl Martin RN, LPC Community Relations Chair
214-384-2395 or editor@dspp.com

DSPP SPRING WORKSHOP

DREW WESTEN, Ph.D.

The Psychoanalytic Enterprise - Alive and Well

March 24, 2001

Dr. Westen has long been a sophisticated advocate, in academic as well as clinical circles, for the validity of psychoanalytic thinking. "The most fundamental assumption of psychoanalytic theory and practice is no longer a matter of scientific debate. Critics cannot continue to make pronouncements about the lack of scientific merit in psychoanalytic ideas without themselves offering scientific counter-evidence. The data are incontrovertible: consciousness is the tip of the psychic iceberg that Freud imagined it to be." Dr. Westen backs up such assertions with compelling empirical evidence.

For questions or additional information contact:
Pat Wood, Ph.D. DSPP President
214-361-5556 or pwood@advico.com 

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The DSPP ARTS Committee presents a visit to the Ft. Worth home and studio of Texas artist, Jim Woodson, on Saturday, March 10, at 7:00 p.m. Woodson, an Associate Professor of Art at Texas Christian University, where he has taught art since 1974, paints from Texas scenes he knows well, having been born and educated in Texas. His recent group of paintings, which form the core of this studio talk, center on both the psychological and the externalized representation in landscape painting of two aspects of time--duration and tempo. His large, complex, rich landscapes represent duration in their expansive views of scenes in the Big Bend area of Texas, which seem eternal, unchanging. Tempo is represented by mirage-like overlaid painting, suggesting movement, changing perception, the present moment. Time is also represented by parts having been covered over, as in memory. The process moves from the past (memory) through the present (perception) to the future (imagination).

The visit to the artist's home will include past work as a mini-retrospective and background for Woodson's recent work. Woodson will conduct a tour through his home, giving a brief explanation of his earlier paintings. In his studio, Woodson will discuss recent work and be available for open discussion with the group.
Woodson's work is informed not only from a lifetime growing up amidst the Texas landscape but also by his extensive travels outside the United States, including a recent invitational exhibition, the Biennale Internazionale Dell'Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy. His recent gallery work, including an exhibition at J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, in 1999, and participation in the new acquisition exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1991, raise the issue of a sense of place. The artist has also explored the relationship between painting and music through a year-long collaboration with the Fort Worth Opera to design sets for the opera, Carmen, in 1991. Woodson's work has become familiar to regional art audiences through his exhibitions at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in 1991 and 1980. His work can be found in public and private collections throughout Texas.

Woodson's home studio tour and talk will be followed by a cocktail/buffet reception. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED because of limited space. RSVP to Judith Samson before February 15: jgsamson@swbell.net  OR leave your reservation (and telephone number, please) at 214-750-7692. Also please contact Judith if you have any questions, directions or need a ride. We will try to set up carpooling, if needed.

For a sample of Jim Woodson’s work visit www.dspp.com 

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DSPP / FAIRHILL SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION

For those of you who are students and professors, it’s again time for the annual DSPP/ Fairhill Scholarship Competition.

In 1998 DSPP initiated its annual scholarship competition with the sponsorship of the Fairhill School & Diagnostic Assessment Center, overseen by the DSPP Community Relations Committee. The competition is designed to encourage and reward scholarship in the area of psychoanalytic theory and practice among area students. The competition is open to all students enrolled in an academic degree program in the Dallas area and surrounding communities. Students from any academic field are welcome to compete.

Categories

Two award categories have been established for the competition: Graduate Student and Undergraduate Student.

Award

The recipients of the scholarship competition award will each be presented with a cash award of $1,000 at the Spring Workshop and free DSPP membership for the following year.

Paper Submission

Competing students should submit an original scholarly paper that incorporates psychoanalytic concepts. Papers may be of any (reasonable) length and may focus on any subject so long as a psychoanalytic theme or perspective is maintained. Papers should be submitted in final form; that is, fully edited and complete with any footnotes, bibliography, appendices, etcetera. Because the judging of the papers is done through a "blind" ranking process, each paper should include a removable cover sheet with author identification and the remaining pages should be devoid of any identifying information, such as the author's name, but also anything identifying the school, department, or other affiliation of the author.

Judging

Papers will be judged on their scholarly merit. Factors considered include, but are not limited to: originality, writing style, thoroughness of topic coverage, organization and composition. Any recognized English language academic format is acceptable (APA or other specific format is not required). There is a great deal of subjectivity involved in the judging process and DSPP strives to appoint judges who represent different backgrounds and interests, but who all share individual scholarly accomplishments. Judges will attempt to avoid bias against, or in favor of, any particular academic field, point of view espoused or criticized, or any other content or perspective variables. Judges will be appointed by DSPP and judges' decisions will be final.

ENTER YOUR PAPER!

Enter your paper by submitting THREE copies along with a completed and signed Scholarship Entry Form (available at www.dspp.com) Entrants should submit their papers early enough to allow receipt by February 24, 2001. Papers received after the deadline will not be considered until the following year.

Mail To:
Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology
Community Relations Committee
4516 Lovers Lane #446
Dallas, Texas 75225-6993.

For additional questions contact DSPP at (214) 890-3351 or Cheryl Martin, RN, LPC, Community Relations Chair at
(214) 384-2395 or e-mail brandy_p_miller@yahoo.com

Deadline for receipt of submissions is February 24, 2001.