Search

Choosing to close a private practice carries profound ramifications for therapist and patients. Patients usually leave us through a mutually constructed termination, accompanied by the understanding that the patient is welcome to return. Terminations marked by abrupt rupture are – with rare exceptions – at the behest of the patient. The choice to close a practice based solely on the wishes and needs of the therapist interrupts ongoing work, disappointing and angering patients and stirring up abandonment issues. For the therapist such a decision involves separation from a deeply cherished identity. And, while this choice affirms a measure of control, it also acknowledges intimations of one's own mortality. This paper addresses the conundrums of choice, the theme of loss and the arc of the work between announcement and termination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freud argued that people perceive reality through their unconscious fantasies while striving to fulfill their wishes. This paper claims that the role of unconscious fantasies should be expanded beyond Freud's description; and that our unconscious imaginary process generates inner communication that is motivated by thoughts and emotions about relating to oneself and others. The clinical case illustrates the role of analysis in closing the permeable gap between reality and unconscious fantasy. In analysis, uncovering unconscious fantasy can serve as a bridge to reality and can be used to facilitate resolution of the patient's underlying conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a disquieting turn of events, almost half of the representatives are members of a new, extreme right-wing party, with many of them being explicit in their rejection of the idea that women's and gender minorities' rights should be constitutionally established. The current political scenario works as a clear and raw reminder that we cannot take for granted any advancements in terms of gender and/or minorities' rights, that we are always a few steps away from having those hard-won rights revoked. Discussing what we would be writing for this snapshot, a memory came to mind: when we began training to become psychoanalytic psychotherapists in Chile, two young undergraduate classmates some 20 years ago, the idea that one could maintain a psychoanalytic perspective while at the same time engaging deeply with - and recognizing the impact of - women's, minorities, and gender issues, and being activists, was not something that appeared possible, much less desirable. [Extracted from the article]