Newsletter MARCH/APRIL 2014

the

[one]

Institute for PsychodymanicChild Psychotherapy

Moving mindsThis issue of the read thread, the IPCP’s newsletter, mirrors the richness, the complexity and also the pain that makes psychoanalytic work so rewarding as well as so challenging. It is diffi-cult to think of another profession, or practice, that requires quite so much thought.

In order to help our patients with their minds we have to be able to think about their minds, using our minds. To do our job of work, we have to be able to rely on our minds; they are the tools of our trade. What happens when our mind is in trouble? What happens when we don’t know our own mind or lose it for a while? These of course are ethical questions and ones that members of the IPCP are committed to continually holding in mind. Read the story from IPCP chair Julie Green on page 4 about a September workshop that shouldn’t be missed.

Apart from worrying about losing our minds, in order to do this job of work which many people [including Bion] might say we ‘must be mad’ to do, we must also love to think and to use our minds. This sentence: ‘how does the mother know her baby’s mind through knowing her own mind, on the way to the baby knowing its own mind; and how does the baby know its mother’s mind?’* might be a mind-bender for the average and sane person, but for many psychotherapists it provides us with infinitely fascinating food for thought.

We are always hungry [never greedy of course] and testament to our interest and commitment was the great turn-out despite wet weather, to a scientific meeting where educational psychologist Jenny Dover presented a paper The Impact of Early Experience on Emotional Development and Learning: A Therapeutic Intervention.

On thinking about what impacts us, read IPCP committee member Yvette Esprey’s response to another packed meeting, where members of our com-munity gathered together to think about victims and perpetrators and how, and if, one can heal the past.

Pretoria, 2012. Graem

e William

s

picture it

No 9

contact Newsletter Editor – Frances Williams – francesw@iafrica.com

threadread

* Transcending the caesura: Reverie, dreaming and counter-dreaming. Avner Bergstein (Int J Psychoanal (2013) 94:621-644)

Writing homeThe IPCP encourages you to write about your work. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps a way of thinking about it, is developmentally. Through the act and the art of writing we can help our patients with their development; we can develop our ideas about them; and in the process develop ourselves as therapists – in other words writing is a way of growing.

IPCP committee member and associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Carol Long, wrote a great article called ‘Reflections on psychoanalytic writing’, published in the Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa 20 (2) 2012.

She has developed a writing group that meets regularly giving members a chance to read their work and support each other’s efforts on what is often a lonely journey.

“Losing too is still ours; and even forgettingstill has a shape in the kingdom of transformation.When something’s let go of, it circles;and though we are rarely the centerof the circle, it draws around us its unbroken, marvelouscurve.”

– Rainer Maria Rilke (1922\1926) [For Hans Carossa]

thought

development

Ethical responsibility

Another IPCP committee member Nicola Dugmore, who has recently completed the innovative Wits PhD by publication, comments on what can be considered an ‘ethical responsibility’ to contribute to research and to grow ideas. She also reminds us of the increasingly important imperative in South Africa – the advocacy of psychoanalytic approaches (e.g. in community work, in the NHI structuring, and to medical aids). Evidence-based research is critical if psychoanalytic therapies are to survive in, and reach widely into, our society.

If we write papers that use case material (or infant observation material) and have them published in peer-reviewed scientific journals we help to build up the kind of body of evidence-based research that allows us to lobby for psychoanalytically-oriented treatments and interventions.

>>> see more on page 4

Theory courses

Dr Sue van Zyl’s Freud’s course, just ended, has become an ‘institution’. This year it was over-subscribed…watch this space for the next opportunity and we apologise to those we had to turn away.

The IPCP is an accredited CPD provider and points can be attained from participating in our courses and membership of our groups. We offer reduced rates for students, interns and community workers. For bookings, rates, times and places visit our website – www.ipcp.co.za

Child Psychotherapy Course

Lecturers: Irene Chait + Mary-Anne TandyDates: Wednesdays: May 7, 14, 21, 28June 4, 11Time: 19:15-21:00Cost: R1 200Venue: Orchards Retreat Centre, OrchardsCPD points: 9Contact: ichait@tiscali.co.za / 082 600 5113

Melanie Klein

Lecturer: Julie GreenDates: Wednesdays: July 30August 13, 20, 27; September 10, 17, 24Time: 19:00-20:30

thought

“With the young child, the idealized mother is the safeguard against a retaliating or a

dead mother and against all bad objects and therefore represents security and life itself.”

– Klein (1940)

”course commentIrene Chait + Mary-Anne Tandy

comment:

The Child Psychotherapy Course is a six-session introduction to psychoanalytic child psychotherapy. It is structured to follow the therapeutic process from assessment for child therapy, developmental considerations, and work with parents, to the therapy, the setting, interpretation, transference and countertransference and endings.

The course is also very relevant to child work in South Africa, where therapists often work in under resourced and traumatized communities where so many children are left insecure, disturbed and destructive. Psychoanalytically informed work can assist in the understanding of disturbed and destructive feelings and behaviour, as well as help the therapist understand and manage countertransference feelings of hopelessness and traumatisation.

The Child Psychotherapy Course will appeal to beginning therapists who are seeking a model of therapeutic work to draw from, as well as more experienced child psychotherapists who are keen to reflect on their child work.

Six sessions:

l The Analytic Approach & Setting in Child Psychotherapy, in brief and long-term work

l Work with Difficult, Disturbed and Deprived Children

l Assessment for Child Psychotherapy

l Attachment Patterns

l Work with Parents

l Endings

Readings will be made available.

Cost: R1 400Venue: Between 21 and 23 Wicklow Ave, ParkviewCPD points: 11Contact: jgreen1@telkomsa.net

Donald Winnicott

Lecturer: Mary-Anne TandyDates: Wednesdays: October 15, 22, 29 November 5, 12,19Time: 19:00-20:30Cost: R1 200Contact: ma@childpsychotherapy.co.za

Watch this space for updates on Bion and other IPCP courses that are planned for this year.

relevant read-ings

Experiencing Beginnings and Endings by Isca Salzberger-Wittenberg. Karnac, London, 2013.

Waiting to be Found: Papers on Children in Care by Andrew Briggs. Karnac, London 2012.

The Thinking Heart: three levels of psychoanalytic therapy with disturbed children by Anne Alvarez. Routledge, London 2012

parts of the whole

[two]

Deepening work with childrenThe IPCP offers a wide and ongoing range of training opportunities. Its Psycho-analytic Child Psychotherapy Supervision Group/Work Discussion Seminar is one of its excellent offerings. This clinical seminar is intended for those psychotherapists working with children who want to improve their clinical understanding and skill in the area of child psychotherapy.

IPCP member Irene Chait outlines the details. Participants are required to present their child therapy cases in the group seminars for discussion and supervision. There is a weekly supervision group for four or five therapists. To fulfil the requirements to be accredited with this Clinical Seminar as a Clinical Module for the Diploma in Therapeutic Communications with Children, the following is required:

Attendance at 30 weekly seminars over a period of a year and writing a Clinical Assignment of a child psychotherapy case which has been ongoing for approximately one year. The presentation should demonstrate clinical work in progress, including the developments and shifts in the case and an understanding of the transference-countertransference relationship. Application of the relevant psychoanalytic theory also needs to be included. The length of the paper is 5 000 words and the standard of the assignment is at an undergraduate, diploma level.

ExcellenceIn the last few years several of the assignments that have been submitted by participating child therapists to Tavistock (London) examiners, have been awarded excellent marks and passed at a Masters level, where the level required is in fact only an undergraduate standard level.

The writing of the child assignments requires effort, time and thought, but both therapists and supervisors have reported how worthwhile and rich an experience it has been.

Being forced to engage so deeply with one’s work allows one to see very poignantly how the child has made use of the therapy; and the therapist to see in what way the child had developed, to see what gains have been made, and to see what work still needs to be done.

The most recent assignment in child work was written and passed by clinician Enzo Sinisi. He concludes his paper on this positive note: “...this work was certainly an enriching experience for me and one that with the supervision group, taught me much more than I had anticipated.”

Enzo has also completed two other assignments and passed the modules in theory and infant observation, making him our first graduate in Johannesburg to receive the IPCP Diploma on Therapeutic Communication with Children – awarded by the Tavistock Clinic in London.

Congratulations to Enzo from all of us at the IPCP.

[three]

Cape parent-infant workWidely experienced Cape Town clinician Judy Davies is running a short course – Introduction to Parent Infant Psychotherapy – in May. The course is aimed at clinicians who have an interest in this field and want to develop their skills in working with parents, their babies and young children. It may be of particular interest to clinicians who have completed an infant observation seminar

The course is based on the Tavistock Clinic model of a short intervention [1-7 sessions] involving both parents and child. This kind of intervention has been found to be helpful in cases in which crying, sleeping and feeding difficulties, or lack of attunement are the presenting problems.

The course is a mixture of clinical case discussions and readings. It will run over eight weeks and be limited to eight participants. Readings will be provided.

Dates and times:

Tuesdays 16:00-17:15orTuesdays 12.45-14:00

Starting 6 May

Venue:

28 Avenue Grande, Newlands

Cost:

R1 500 (R700 deposit on booking)

Enquiries:

Judy Davies on 021 683 8362 or 083 273 3475 or jdavies@iafrica.com

facts

thought

“In the early years of my psycho-analytic practice I used to have the greatest difficulty in prevailing on my patients to continue their analysis. This difficulty has long since been shifted, and I now have to take the greatest pains to induce them to give it up.”

– Freud, 1913c, p. 130)

Ethics

Engaging with ethical dilemmas and debate is a critical part of our work and part of our professional identity and practice. Since its inception The Institute for Psychodynamic Child Psychotherapy (IPCP) has embraced ‘ethical practice’ as one of its cornerstones. To this end, its newsletter the read thread ensures, each issue, to publish dialogue around ethics.

Chair of the IPCP, Julie Green, is also chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee (EAC) of the South African Psychoanalytic Confederation (SAPC). Below is a cameo of an ethical dilemma which is useful to think about. These and other issues around supervision and ethics will be discussed at an ethics workshop organised by the EAC on 13 September 2014 in Johannesburg.

The DilemmaS is a supervisor who has been supervising therapists for many years. She has a supervisee Q about whom she

is most concerned. She knows that Q is experiencing a lot of

personal difficulties in her life, her relationship has recently broken up and Q has been struggling to deal with it. Q feels that her life has collapsed around her. S feels that Q’s personal difficulties are spilling into her work as a therapist. Q is making poor judgments, is saying unwise things in the therapy she is giving

and appears to be unboundaried. Despite trying to help Q recognize this, Q becomes defensive, saying that in her current situation there is no money for therapy and supervision is the most that she is able to do and that she has had many years of therapy anyway. S feels that the supervision is not getting through to Q and S is increasingly worried both for Q’s mental state and also for her patients.

This situation raises a number of ethical issues for S, the supervisor.What recourse does she have to help Q realize her difficulties and then to make choices about her life and her work?

What is S’s responsibility to Q and to her patients?

How does a therapist deal with her overwhelming personal issues when her work requires her to be mindful and thoughtful and able to think about her patients?

How does a supervisor deal with supervisees who do not take supervision on board and continue to either act out, be unboundaried or unhelpful to their patients?

If you are a supervisor and want to contribute some of your own dilemmas to this workshop, please send them to Julie Green at jgreen1@telkomsa.net

Keen observationThe infant observation module forms a core part of the IPCP course on Therapeutic Communication with Children. Observers have the opportunity to observe the development of a baby from birth for the first two years of life. Observations are discussed in a weekly seminar group of five members.

Groups start as soon as there are enough committed members to undertake the two-year journey. Whilst this may seem daunting, without exception observers are sad when the time comes to say goodbye, and usually choose to continue beyond the first year. A one-year observation is required for a Certificate, two years for a Diploma.

If you are interested in undertaking an infant observation contact Shayleen Peeke at shayleenp@gmail.com or visit our website for more details: www.ipcp.co.za

Take the gapJohannesburg-based, The Friday Psychoanalytic Reading Group, was originally established by senior clinician Erica Eckstein in the mid 90s (who sadly re-located to Australia). Her ‘legacy’ remains and this is a committed, group that meets fortnightly on a Friday morning for two hours as a reading and study group. Its aim is to enhance and develop members’ psychoanalytic understanding and therapeutic skills with particular emphasis on object relations.

It has space for a couple of new members – it is a ‘senior’ group so applicants need to be experienced and work psychoanalytically. If you are interested take the gap and contact Gwyn Choles on 083 266 3056

Members: Hayley Berman, Gill Berkowitz, Nicole Canin, Nichi Casati, Irene Chait, Gwyn Choles, Nicola Dugmore, Yvette Esprey, Lauren Gower, Julie Green (chair), Lindy Harris, Arlene Joffe, Carol Long, Trevor Lubbe, Tshidi Maseko, Shayleen Peeke, Linda Rudenburg, Mary-Anne Tandy, Coralie Trotter, Marnie Vujovic, Felicity van Vuuren, Frances WilliamsCape: Carol Cheeseman, Judith Davies, Melanie Horwitz, Trish Leaver, Diane Sandler, Tanya Wilson, Bea Wirz

Institute for Psychodynamic Child PsychotherapyInstitute for Psychodymanic

Child Psychotherapy

[four]

The GoldfinchBy Donna Tartt

The work that we do as psycho-therapists is about life and trying to help our patients understand theirs. Understanding: how and why we live our lives in the way that we do; understanding that we have a life that we don’t know about [and mostly will never know about]; understanding that life began before us and will continue after us; understanding that we will

lose our life, and lose people in our lives.

Fiction is about life too, which is perhaps why so many psychotherapists, when they are not working, read so prolifically. We are interested in other people’s lives [as of course we are interested in our own].

Donna Tartt’s latest offering The Goldfinch captures life and loss in all its power, its glory and its heartache.

“The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph – a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.”

Buy it from all good bookshops or from the comfort of your own home online from Amazon.

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2013

Good read

”

Reflection by IPCP committee member Yvette Esprey

A point of viewOn a rain-swept February evening this year, Ububele hosted a diverse gathering of people who had

come to witness the stories told by two second-generation survivors of WWII. Both Germans, Peter Pogany-Wnendt is the son of Holocaust survivors, and Erda Siebert, the daughter of an SS officer. Both are psychoanalytic practitioners. Together they narrated their process of dialogue with one another over the last 20 years within the context of a study group which facilitates conversations between the children of Holocaust victims and perpetrators. Their stories were powerful and moving, and it was clear that they resonated at a deeply personal level for everyone in attendance.

Intergenerational transmission

I was acutely aware of the audience, and of the multiple identities represented in the room – Holocaust survivors, 2nd generation survivors, Jews, Germans, South African, black, white, men, women.

We were a gathering of victims and perpetrators. Whilst the focus for Peter and Erda was on their experience of inter-generational transmission of Holocaust related trauma, they attempted too to draw parallels with our own South African experience of Apartheid, and with the legacies of trauma which ripple inter-generationally in our own context.

The engagement from the audience was intense and urgent, and I was struck by how many voices in the room were trying to be heard. I became increasingly aware of the elephant in the room, of this country’s perpetrator-victim history which we struggle to bring into focus and talk about to one another. I left the talk feeling unsettled, and with many questions: is real dialogue across difference possible for us, as South Africans; can we do the psychic work involved in mentalising across difference such that a resonance of alikeness, and empathy, can be found. Can we ever know the Other, or is Gadamer right in saying

that we can strive to understand the Other’s point, but we can

never understand their point of view. And, what is our

role and responsibility as psychoanalytic practitioners, in engaging with these questions, and acknowledging their presence in our community and within

our consulting rooms.

”

...writing home...“Writing alone is daunting

but there are people in the IPCP who have experience in writing and may be willing

to help would-be writers. Invaluable while I was doing my PhD was the peer group we established. We still meet to share ideas for papers, present

drafts of papers to each other and encourage each other in meeting deadlines, submitting to

journals and then processing the sometimes difficult reviews so that we

continue to publish.”

Nicola DugmoreIPCP committee member

visit our website

www.ipcp.co.za

Watch this space for the IPCP’s new season

of ‘Psychoanalysis goes to the Movies’