The Society of Analytical Psychology will host its 2026 Annual Lecture on July 4th, featuring Dr. Susan Mizen in a landmark presentation that brings together cutting-edge neuroscience research with clinical analytic practice. The lecture, titled “Self and other in mind and brain: some implications of an empirical study for analytic practice,” marks a significant moment in the ongoing dialogue between depth psychology and contemporary neuroscience.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mizen, a Jungian Analyst and retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, brings an exceptional breadth of expertise to this year’s Annual Lecture. As former chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Psychotherapy Faculty Executive (2014-2018) and current chair of the Talking Therapies Task Force, her work operates at the intersection of clinical practice, institutional reform, and empirical research. Her recent PhD from the University of Exeter investigating her Relational Affective Model represents a rare synthesis of analytic depth and neuroscientific rigor\u2014addressing one of the field’s most pressing questions: how can depth psychology engage productively with neuroscience without losing its essential character?<\/p>\n
The lecture will present findings from Dr. Mizen’s doctoral research that have led her to fundamentally reconsider how the experience of self and other are represented in mind and brain, particularly in patients who rely on projective identification to manage unconscious anxieties. Building on her earlier work developing an analytically informed approach for patients with severe narcissistic disorders in NHS services\u2014based on Ron Britton’s thinking\u2014Dr. Mizen will share new understanding of somatic symptoms and their implications for analytic technique. The presentation will include clinical material from a patient’s analysis, grounding theoretical insights in the lived reality of analytic work and making complex neuroscientific concepts immediately relevant to practicing analysts.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mizen’s work extends far beyond the consulting room. In April 2025, she presented the health economic findings of the Talking Therapies Task Force in Parliament, making the case for investment in psychotherapeutic pathways for hospitalised patients with Personality Disorder. This advocacy is grounded in her development of a psychotherapeutic day and outpatient programme in Exeter that provides an alternative to locked placements for patients with severe Personality Disorder\u2014demonstrating how rigorous analytic thinking can reshape institutional practices and policy. Her Relational Affective Model offers practitioners a framework that honors both analytic tradition and empirical validation, bringing the consulting room into productive conversation with the laboratory and the corridors of power.<\/p>\n
The SAP Annual Lecture has long served as a premier forum for innovative thinking in analytical psychology, bringing together clinicians, scholars, and researchers to engage with work that advances the field. This year’s lecture continues that tradition, offering a rare opportunity to hear from a clinician-researcher whose integration of neuroscience, clinical observation, and institutional advocacy represents analytical psychology at its most vital\u2014responsive to contemporary research while remaining rooted in the relational depths that define analytic work. For analysts navigating the tension between empirical validation and analytic depth, Dr. Mizen’s presentation promises both theoretical sophistication and practical guidance.<\/p>\n