SAP Annual Lecture

Self and other in mind and brain: some implications of an empirical study for analytic practice

The event will be held in a hybrid format – both in person at the SAP library and online. As space in the library is limited, we encourage early booking once registration opens in the coming days.

In previous papers I described the analytically informed approach based on Ron Britton’s thinking which I developed for patients with severe narcissistic disorders attending NHS services. Later in my paper self and alien self in psyche and soma I described my ideas about how the experience of self and other are represented in the mind and brain and how both are adjusted in narcissistic defences. The results of my recent PhD study have led me to update my ideas and clinical analytic practice. In this lecture I will talk about those findings and the new understanding I have arrived at of somatic symptoms in patients who rely on projective identification to manage their unconscious anxieties. I will illustrate the implications for analytic practice with extracts for the analysis of a patient.

Annual Lecture Programme

10h00 – 11h30    Annual Lecture paper

11h30 – 12h00    Tea/coffee break

12h00 – 12h30    Respondent

12h30 – 13h00    Q & A and discussion