PSYCHOANALYSIS AND MENTAL HEALTH FIELD


The Psychoanalysis and the Mental Health Field Committee was established by the IPA Board in August 2013, as an initiative proposed by President Stefano Bolognini. Its mandate included the tasks of analyzing the current situation of the relation between psychoanalysis, psychiatry and the mental health field, to devise a strategy for the IPA to give psychoanalysis a voice within psychiatry and the mental health field , as well to increase psychoanalytic knowledge within the medical sciences at large, and to present their work during the IPA 2015 Boston Congress.

The initial activity of the committee consisted on a large scale inquiry with analysts in the three regions about their view on the current situation of psychoanalysis and the mental health field, as well as psychoanalysis in the world. The main aspects and problems reported were: the progressive distance of psychiatry from psychoanalysis, the growing absence of psychoanalysis in academia, mainly in medical schools, the previous arrogance of psychoanalysis concerning its supposed theoretical and therapeutic power, the need of a growing presence in the public health systems, the need of a growing presence in the relation with several other disciplines of the mental health field, the lack of interest and concrete actions of many analytic societies and institutes concerning a stronger presence in the media , and in the mental health arena, as well as the existence of several centers and initiatives that show how successfully and effectively all these challenges were and are met and faced.

The next step was to take some concrete initiatives concerning the presence of committee members in regional and national events, mainly in Latin America, for instance the FEPAL congress of Buenos Aires, where joint discussions with colleagues from other disciplines were held. At the same time, European members of the committee began conversations and exchanges with analysts working at the university and the World Health Organization in order to plan joint collaboration.

All these activities converged to the planning and organization of four panels and a pre congress full day of presentations and discussions on several dimensions of the relation of psychoanalysis and the mental health field. We had as special guest Prof. Levent Kuey, current member of the Board of the European Psychiatric Organization, and chair of the program committee of the next congress of the World Psychiatric Organization.
We had a full day activity to discuss New Psychoanalytic Instruments in the Mental Health Field, and four panels, on Teaching psychoanalysis to residents in psychiatry, Rethinking the Clinical Conference: Psychoanalytic supervision in mental health services, Psychoanalysis and the Mental Health Field, and Psychoanalytic consultation in health organizations: new methods of intervention. The papers presented in these activities will soon be available on the IPA website.

The new  psychoanalytical book collection, O que fazer? (How do I manage this?),is born with a double purpose: allow for the lay public to have access  to psychoanalytic knowledge in a colloquial and simple language, beyond its most common use restricted to the private clinical sphere, with views to aid the general lay public to seek for solutions to their everyday dramas.

Its second goal is to share reliable information passed on by qualified psychoanalysts in areas such as mental health, education, family dynamics and others. Each author, writing in simple but consistent language, will deal with a specific problematic.  The first two numbers are already in process and will be launched briefly: Alcoholism and Family Violence. Other four titles are already under way. 
It is a joint project of our committee and Blucher Publishing House of São Paulo, Brazil, having as its chief editors: Claudio Eizirik, Susana Muszkat (IPA committee), Thais Blucher (SBPSP), Luciana Saddi (SBPSP), Sonia Soicher Terepins (SBPSP). O que fazer? will initially be published in Portuguese both in paper and e-book formats, opening up the new branch of psychoanalytic titles of the publishing house. 


The committee members are Cláudio Laks Eizirik, ( chair), Giovanni Batista Forresti, Philip Stokoe, Martin Teising,   

Humberto Persano, Robert Michels, Susana Muszkat, Jorge Kantor, Do-Un Jeong.

BOSTON CONGRESS 2015

Teaching Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy to Residents in Psychiatry Panel


New Psychoanalytic Instruments in the Mental Health Field : Vittorio Lingiardi  Faculty of Medicine and Psychology

Windows of Friendship or Animosity?: Do-Un Jeong

Proving the Impact of Psychoanalysis on Daily Psychiatric Practice: Structured Programs and Clinical Guidance: Joachim Küchenhoff
 

Psychodynamics and psychiatry: R.D. Hinshelwood
 

Rethinking the Clinical Conference: Psychoanalytic 'supervision' in mental health services


Read Intro

Practicing Psychoanalytic Theory in the field of Child Sexual Abuse: Katrine Zeuthen 
 


`The White Bicycle`: possible contributions of psychoanalysis to general psychiatry: Levent Küey


Psychoanalysis and the Mental Health Field: Cláudio Laks Eizirik

(Re)discovering Psychoanalysis: Florence Quartier     

 

PORTFOLIO

    

What Makes the Work So Difficult: an Intervention in Mental Health