Course Description:

In psychoanalysis, love can be dangerous. Certainly, our history is replete with examples of love or lust challenging and too often breaking through crucial boundaries. And so, until recently, when love bloomed in the consultation room, it was more often than not seen as toxic, iatrogenic, and anything but the enlivening and growth enhancing feeling that often develops between two people engaging in an intimate relationship. In the contemporary analytic community, it is no longer surprising to talk about love for our patients, their love for us, and what this stirs for each party. But for many clinicians, there can still be great shame and guilt that make it difficult to more deeply explore and share these aspects of our work. My previous writing in this area focused on the therapeutic action of the analyst’s erotic and romantic love. In this talk I will present just such an analytic love story, versions of which I have written or told before, and never without my own residue of those very feelings. This time though, my interest in the telling has less to do with the therapeutic action of this love, than my significant concerns about the potential clinical limitations of that very same love. This topic is relevant to any social worker who works directly with clients and may develop loving feelings towards them.

Course Link:
http://www.mcpp.online

CE Value (credits): 2
CE Type: Standard
 

Michigan Council for
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Contact Information:
Rebecca Hatton, Psy.D
734-709-2183
rebecca.hatton1@gmail.com