Course Description:

I have been interested for some years in a type of internal object that is not exactly felt to be bad, but rather stupid and useless. In the healthier patients it may even evoke love of an affectionate but careless kind. However, I have seen it in more extreme forms in some children of drug addicts or alcoholics, or in cases of maternal depression. The lack of interest in, and interestingness of, the objects seemed to have led not to devalued but unvalued objects. This can lead to cognitive weakness, as there is no magnet, no mystery, insufficient awe or excitement to evoke much curiosity (Alvarez, The Thinking Heart, 2012).

In this presentation I will discuss a slightly different kind of internal object, which is felt to be irritating but not cruel; intrusive, because out of sync or even over-synced, but perhaps also still loveable and loving, perhaps smothering. This object, like the stupid object, can lead to reduced curiosity, intolerance of novelty, and a somewhat withdrawn or undrawn response to stimulation, as well as a mild degree of learning difficulty of the uninterested and apathetic type. In more severe cases of objects that never quite feel right, and have always been experienced as out of sync, the damage to cognition, emotional life, and the sense of being may be more severe. We shall study some infants with very different internal worlds, who are full of curiosity and the desire to explore.

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