Talks On Psychoanalysis

"How does the psyche navigate the interplay of impermanence and resilience? In 'Vicissitudes of Transience', Jhuma Basak explores the concept of transience through psychoanalytic, cultural, and philosophical lenses, drawing connections between Japanese and Indian contexts. Through myths like Ajase and cultural forms like Bhatiyali songs, Jhuma Basak illuminates how transience shapes our relationship with loss, desire, and creativity. Bridging Eastern and Western perspectives, this reflection invites us to consider the feminine principle of fluidity as a path to embracing impermanence." This article is part of the book “Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India” (Routledge, 2025), a collaboration between Osamu Kitayama and Jhuma Basak exploring primal relationships in Japan and India through a cross-cultural psychoanalytic lens." Jhuma Basak is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Indian Psychoanalytical Society. She has published on culture and gender. Over the past 20 years, she has presented at IPA Congresses along with the first Keynote from Asia-Pacific, 4th IPA-region at the 53rd IPA Congress (International Journal of Psychoanalysis). A past Co-chair of COWAP Asia-Pacific, she co-edited Psychoanalytic and Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Women in India: Violence, Safety and Survival (2021). You can download a copy of the paper here. This podcast series is produced by the International Psychoanalytical Association as part of the activities of the IPA Outreach Subcommittee. Chair: Gaetano Pellegrini. Podcast Coordinator: Florencia Biotti. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. To stay informed about the latest podcast releases, please subscribe today. Cover Image: Mukhtar Shuaib Mukhtar, Photo, Pexels (free to use).

In this article, Christine Anzieu-Premmereur explores the relationship between compulsion and the body in childhood and adolescence. Using psychoanalytic theory, she analyzes how the compulsive repetition of self-destructive behaviors can represent an attempt to process and make sense of early traumatic experiences. The article highlights the importance of early therapeutic intervention in childhood to prevent emotional and addictive problems later in life. In a world where addiction and emotional difficulties affect many people, understanding the roots of these behaviors is crucial. Through psychoanalytic theory, the author guides us in exploring the underlying mechanisms of compulsive repetition and its role in shaping subjectivity.Christine Anzieu-Premmereur proposes models of early psychic processes that influence repetition compulsion, distinguishing between two types: one that fosters creativity and openness, and another that leads to disorganization and destructiveness. She examines how early relationship disturbances can contribute to addiction and compulsive behaviors in adulthood. Early therapeutic intervention is therefore essential to foster creativity and free association in patients.Ultimately, the author argues that compulsive behaviors can reflect attempts to process and make sense of early experiences, even when this process is painful or difficult. She also highlights the importance of analytic space, transitional spaces, and creative activities as settings where emotions can be explored and understood. Christine Anzieu-Premmereur is an adult and child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and a member of the Société Psychanalytique de Paris and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She directed the Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Training at Columbia University and served as chair of the IPA Committee for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis. She has published extensively on motherhood, child psychoanalysis, psychosomatics, addiction, and the intersection of the body and compulsion. You can download a copy of the paper here. This podcast series is produced by the International Psychoanalytical Association as part of the activities of the IPA Outreach Subcommittee. Chair: Gaetano Pellegrini. Podcast Coordinator: Florencia Biotti. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. To stay informed about the latest podcast releases, please subscribe today. Cover Image: Simon Vouet, Madonna and Child, 1633.Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. https://www.nga.gov/artworks/206070-madonna-and-child

In the wake of profound cultural change, the traditional image of the father has been destabilized, prompting renewed psychoanalytic reflection. No longer confined to authority alone, the paternal figure is now expected to embody both care and limit. What psychic space does the father occupy in the life of the child? In this episode, Heribert Blass explores fatherhood through a contemporary psychoanalytic lens. Drawing on clinical experience, interdisciplinary research, and cultural observation, he outlines a model of committed paternity that integrates emotional presence with symbolic function. From early play to Oedipal conflict, the father's task is to protect, to differentiate, and to support the child's path toward autonomy. Rather than fading, he emerges as a complex figure situated at the intersection of intimacy, separation, and symbolic function—and essential to the child's inner world. Heribert Blass, medical doctor, is a psychoanalyst for adults, children, and adolescents; a training and supervising analyst of the German Psychoanalytic Association and the IPA; also a specialist in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, and psychiatry, working in private practice in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is the president-elect of the IPA and served as president of the European Psychoanalytic Federation from 2020 to 2024. His publications cover a wide range of topics, including male identity and sexuality, the image of the father, supervision, generativity both in clinical work and within psychoanalytic institutions, boundary violations, the relationship between internal and external reality, psychoanalysis and society (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), as well as time and the experience of time. French German Italian Portoguese Spanish You can download a copy of the paper here This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Co-Editors: Gaetano Pellegrini and Nicolle Zapien. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. To stay informed about the latest podcast releases, please sign up today.

What happens when the analytic setting—built on confidentiality and silence—meets the institutional demands of psychoanalytic training? Can the frame of supervision truly preserve the integrity of the analytic pact, or does it inevitably put it at risk? In this episode, Ellen Sparer explores a central paradox in psychoanalytic formation: the tension between the confidentiality of analytic work and the structural requirements of supervision. Drawing from her experience at the Paris Psychoanalytic Institute, she asks whether supervision risks undermining the very foundation of the analytic situation—what Freud, in An Outline of Psychoanalysis, described as a pact in which “the patient’s sick ego promises us the most complete candour…” while “we, on the other hand, assure him of the strictest discretion.” Through reflections on André Green, José Bleger, and Freud’s concept of disavowal, Sparer examines what she calls a “noisy contradiction”—a situation in which the analyst-in-formation becomes both observer and observed, and where the silence essential to the analytic space is disturbed by institutional structure. She invites us to consider the Institute’s role as a symbolic third—present, structuring, yet potentially unsettling—and to ask whether we can live with this paradox without disavowing its presence. Rather than resolving the contradiction, this episode engages with it directly, as Ellen Sparer offers a nuanced and courageous inquiry into a space of ethical tension, institutional inheritance, and potential transformation at the core of analytic formation. Ellen Sparer is a training analyst at the Paris Psychoanalytic Society and former Director of the Paris Institute of Psychoanalysis, a role she held until March 2025. She has served as co-chair of the Applicant Societies Committee of the IPA, where she contributed to the evaluation of emerging psychoanalytic groups seeking IPA recognition. She is also an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, where she’s part of the Education Section, and a scientific advisor for the Jahrbuch of Psychoanalysis. From 2009 to 2019, she was on the editorial board of the Revue Française de Psychanalyse. Most recently, she was elected to the IPA Board as a European representative. Her scientific work and publications focus on the unconscious ego, supervision, training, the frame, and ethics. She has also written on countertransference phenomena, including the function of the analyst’s dream in the treatment process. This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Co-Editors: Gaetano Pellegrini and Nicolle Zapien. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri.

What challenges face the patient and analyst in constructing the analytic space? How can the analyst navigate the interplay of intense emotional dynamics to enable meaningful transformation? In this article, titled "The Analyst and the Patient: Building a Space for Thinking", Alberto Carrión García de Parada, delves into the intricate process of building a shared analytic space. Drawing on his extensive experience in child and adolescent psychoanalysis and parent-infant psychotherapy, he examines the dynamic interplay of transference and countertransference, highlighting the analyst's active role in containing disturbing emotional and mental content. Integrating classical theories with contemporary developments, the article references key figures such as Wilfred Bion and León Grinberg to explore the evolution of the analytic process through shared emotional "storms" and the gradual dismantling of initial patient resistances. By emphasizing the importance of the analyst's reverie and countertransference awareness, the article underscores how the analytic setting can serve as a transformative framework for emotional containment and psychic development. Alberto Carrión García de Parada is a Clinical Psychologist and Training Psychoanalyst of the Madrid Psychoanalytical Association (APM). He is also a child and adolescent psychoanalyst, and has a special interest in parent-infant psychotherapy. He has directed the children and adolescents Department and is currently president of the APM. He participates as a lecturer in an annual cycle on cinema and psychoanalysis organised by the Colegio Mayor Isabel de España. He has given many lectures in psychoanalytic forums and is the author of several articles in the journal of psychoanalysis of the APM as well as in other psychoanalytic psychotherapy journals. Some of these articles are: The role of the psychotherapist in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and adolescents (2008). From play to sport (2012). The child psychoanalyst. Transformations in the mother-baby bond (2018). Frame and reverie (2020). Other articles written in collaboration with several authors: Adolescence and melancholic functioning (2010). Enuresis: a manifestation of childhood regression (2011). He has participated in the book Interrogated Parentality, edited by the APM (2020). A subtitled version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxiwE76e0QaOquX3GujdwNLFsgxUQNXz&si=yf381EDu3pess6Yz This episode has also been published in Spanish. This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Co-Editors: Gaetano Pellegrini and Nicolle Zapien. This episode has been produced in collaboration with Ana Maria Martin Solar. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. To stay informed about the latest podcast releases, please sign up today.

What is it that is so captivating about travel? In Freud’s travel letters chronicling his experiences over many decades in different countries, there are the seeds of the advance of non-clinical experiences of psychoanalysis. Travel takes us to another place with unfamiliar surroundings so that we might see anew that which we may otherwise take for granted. Awe and beauty are often experiences we have while abroad. And these are described by Freud over and over again in these captivating letters. In this podcast episode, Dr. Patricia O’Donnell discusses Freud’s travel letters and his musings on the pleasures of travel, art, and architecture, as experiences that inspire awe and transcendence. She links these experiences to the unconscious fantasizing that stems from curiosity, rooted in infantile sexuality and that gives rise to the desire to know and triggers of experiences of passion. Dr. Patricia O’Donnell is a psychiatrist, a full member and training analyst of the Argentine Psychoanalytic Association and a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association. She is also an Associate Professor at the Department of Mental Health at the Hospital de Clinicas Jose de San Martin. She has presented papers at national and international conferences and delivered workshops and lectures on psychoanalytic art research. She has written numerous articles and co-authored books on topics ranging from psychoanalysis and creativity, art and literature. A subtitled version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxiwE76e0QaOquX3GujdwNLFsgxUQNXz&si=yf381EDu3pess6Yz You can download a copy of the paper here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-dthE_sMLxYjtDl4uWWTuEdYD4THtjSN/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=100400904585889441765&rtpof=true&sd=true This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Co-Editors: Gaetano Pellegrini and Nicolle Zapien. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. To stay informed about the latest podcast releases, please sign up today. This episode has also been published in Spanish.

How can neuropsychoanalysis help us to understand Artifical Intelligence? We encounter Artificial Intelligence everyday, which is modeled to a certain extent on human consciousness, and so AI gives us a view into what we know and what we may not know about ourselves. In addition, we now develop our sense of self and others both within the virtual and material worlds – AI could be said therefore to not only be modeled on human consciousness, but it is also impacting our development. In this podcast episode, Dr. Rosa Spagnolo discusses consciousness, artificial intelligence and the development of superintelligent AI. She considers what this implies for human and AI development, identifications, subjectivity, and suffering, leveraging neuropsychoanalytic understandings of the mind. Dr. Rosa Spagnolo is a child neuropsychiatrist, developmental psychotherapist and psychoanalyst member of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society and the IPA. She is co-chair and co-founder of the Italian Psychoanalytic Dialogues Association. Dr. Spagnolo is a member, regional coordinator and chair of the Italian group of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. She teaches at several institutions and is a sought-after speaker at national and international conferences. She has written several books and articles on a variety of topics including: Eating disorders, group analytic psychotherapy, neuropsychoanalysis, and neuropsychiatric developmental disorders. She was nominated for the Gradiva award in 2019. A subtitled version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxiwE76e0QaOquX3GujdwNLFsgxUQNXz&si=yf381EDu3pess6Yz You can download a copy of the paper here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DYtz3e3Dq9WC8qGhH3KqkCrM4ejPAINj/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100400904585889441765&rtpof=true&sd=true This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Head of the Podcast Editorial Team: Gaetano Pellegrini.Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. This episode has been published also in French This episode has been published also in Italian

What does a psychoanalyst do in his practice with his patients? How can we define the act of the psychoanalyst at work? It is this vast question that Bernard Penot addresses in this podcast, talking about the act of the psychoanalyst in the service of subjectivation. Referring to Freud's work on transference and then to Lacan's work on the psychoanalytical act during the years of student revolts in France in may 1968, he manages to show us the active involvement of the psychoanalyst in the practice of the cures he provides. Bernard Penot is a french psychoanalyst. He lives and works in Paris. He has been a full member and training analyst of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society since 1990. As neuropsychiatrist, he was the director of a day hospital for adolescents in Paris for many years. He is the author of several books published in french, and of numerous articles published in the French journal of psychoanalysis and the International journal of psychoanalysis. Link to the paper https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YtXzBF8rEX4-Gpf6tGsajv6-tShQxbwT/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112457875385152358388&rtpof=true&sd=true This episode is available also in French A subtitled version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxiwE76e0QaOquX3GujdwNLFsgxUQNXz&si=yf381EDu3pess6Yz This episode has been produced in collaboration with Julia-Flore Alibert. This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Head of the Podcast Editorial Team: Gaetano Pellegrini.Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri. Music: Chopin_Waltzes_Op.69. Performer Olga Gurevich. https://musopen.org/music/4415-waltzes-op-69/ Cover Image: Blue human figure and fox in cage on black paper. Blum, Alexandra, artist - Courtesy Library of Congress. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Still Life with Fruit and Wineglasses on a Silver Plate, c. 1659-1660, Willem Kalf. Courtesy Mauritshuis, The Hague. Why do some people seem unable to achieve full satisfaction in things? What keeps them dissatisfied even after achieving their goals? And why does the Ego persist in avoiding mourning and sticking to the same solutions? In this episode of the IPA Talks On Psychoanalysis podcast series, Salman Akhtar presents his theory that redefines the classical Kleinian conception of the rupture between Gratification and Satisfaction as a consequence of the death instinct derived attack upon the provider of gratification. This should indeed lead us to the search for a state of tranquility rather than an increase in tension. What role does the Life Instinct, instead, play in this restless search, in this excessive intense refusal to believe that further gratification shall not result in satisfaction? This exploration not only offers a theoretical perspective but also has profound implications for clinical practice and our understanding of psychoanalytic technique. The episode we share with you today is sourced from the wealth of content presented at the 53rd IPA Congress in Cartagena. It was a part of the "Fanning the Flames" Panel, featuring Salman Akhtar, alongside Cordelia Schmidt-Hellerau, Claudia Antonelli, and moderated by Fred Busch. We are delighted to announce the opportunity to watch the complete panel, along with many other outstanding presentations from the Cartagena Congress, on the www.ipa.world website. Salman Akhtar, MD is an internationally known psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, writer, and poet based in the United States. He has published 108 authored or edited books and given lectures and workshops in over 40 countries. Dr.Akhtar has served on the editorial boards of the three most important journals of our field, namely Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JAPA), IJP, and The Psychoanalytic Quarterly PQ. His books have been translated in many languages and he has received numerous professional honors, including the highly prestigious Sigourney Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychoanalysis. Recently a 10-volume set of his Selected Papers was released at a festive ceremony at the Freud House& Museum in London. Dr. Akhtar has published 18 collections of poetry and serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Inter-Act Thater Company in Philadelphia. A subtitled version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxiwE76e0QaOquX3GujdwNLFsgxUQNXz&si=yf381EDu3pess6Yz

How can we think about the Oedipus complex today in a contemporary society beset by a crisis of ideals and the emergence of new forms of sexuality? Neurosis has not disappeared, but borderline states have become a prevalent adaptive mode in a world lacking solid authority figures and sinking into symbolic misery. In this episode, François Richard is proposing his concept of the distorted Oedipus complex. Beginning with theoretical conceptions of Freud and then of his successors, he is suggesting that a specific form of the infantile oedipus complex persisting in adolescents and adults, give us a better understanding of borderline patients. François Richard is a psychoanalyst and a member of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society. He is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Paris and has worked for many years in various medical and psychological institutions. As a clinical psychologist, he has also studied social sciences, which broadens his reflection on the impact of social factors on individual psychology. Professor of psychopathology at the Université Paris Cité, he has directed numerous theses and colloquiums, and at one time edited the journal Adolescence. He is the author of several books that have been subject of debates, including Le Processus de subjectivation à l'adolescence (2001), L'actuel malaise dans la culture (2011) and Le Surmoi perverti. His current research focuses on the current crisis of civilisation, the processes of sublimation (particularly in literature), sexual polymorphism, borderline states, and the relationship between frame and countertransference in the face of what he proposes to think of as a structurally deformed Oedipus complex. Link to the paper https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ju6QxykJe0UK0JBu3QcLdzHZQOveq3HF/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=112457875385152358388&rtpof=true&sd=true This episode is available also in French This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Editor Gaetano Pellegrini.This episode was curated by Julia-Flore Alibert. Introduction written and read by Julia-Flore Alibert.Sound Engineer: Massimiliano Guerrieri.

What is the relationship between the mind and the body, and how does it shape our understanding of the self? In this episode, Rosa Spagnolo presents her reflections on the topic, published in her recent book, written with Georg Northoff. In the book, she delves into how out-of-body experiences can shed light on the complex dynamics between the self and the world. She examines the relationship between the body and the brain, the role of time and space in shaping our experience of the self, and the intersection between psychoanalysis and neuroscience. Along the way, she touches on the potential implications of virtual reality on our sense of self. Rosa Spagnolo, MD, Child Neuropsychiatrist; Developmental Psychotherapist; Psychoanalyst, Full Member of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI), IPA Member. She is Co-Chair and co-founder of the Italian Psychoanalytic Dialogues (IPD) association, which organizes annual Rome Conferences, on psychoanalytic and neuroscientific issues. She is a member of NPSA and chair of the "Italian Group of NPSA". She is chair of the IPAWEB page: the Psychoanalysis in the Age of Neuroscience and chair of the SPIWEB page of Neuroscience. Teaches "Psychology of Nutrition" and "Treatment of Eating Disorders" at the University - Tor Vergata -, Rome, Master II level in "Diagnosis and Treatment of Eating and Weight Disorders". Teaches "Psychoanalysis and Culture" at the Graduate School of Psychoanalytic and Group Analytic Psychotherapy. Works in Rome at the Filippo Smaldone Institute for the rehabilitation of deafness, learning and speech disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders. She is the author of numerous publications as well as a conference speaker and lecturer on neuropsychiatric developmental disorders and psychoanalytical topics. Books Spagnolo R. (2012): La forza delle immagini attraverso la catena associativa dell’analista. In: Domenico Chianese e Andreina Fontana (Eds), Per un sapere dei sensi. Immagini ed estetica psicoanalitica. Roma: Edizione Alpes, 2012 Spagnolo R.(2016) : La ricerca empirica sul sogno, in: Antonello Colli. Psicoterapia Psicodiamica (pp. 232-234). Roma : Carrocci Editore, 2016 Spagnolo, R. (2017). An unexpected Pathway for Interpsychic Exchange: Music in the analysis of Young Adult. In B.N. Seitler & K.S. Kleinman (Eds.), Essays from Cradle to Couch (pp. 341-357). IPBooks, Astoria: NY. Spagnolo R. (ED) (2018): Building Bridges, The impact of Neuropsychoanalysis on Psychoanalytic Clinical Sessions. Routledge, London and New York. Nominato al Gradiva Awards, New York, 2019 Spagnolo R. & Northoff G.(2021): The Dynamic Self in Psychoanalysis. Neuroscientific foundations and clinical cases. Routledge, London and New York Spagnolo R. & Northoff G (2022): Il Sè dinamico in psicoanalisi. Fondamenti Neuroscientifici e clinica Psicoanalitica. Franco Angeli Editore. Spagnolo R. (2007) "Chantal" - Maremmi Editore, Firenze. This episode is available also in Italian This episode was read by Eleonora Maruca.Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri.

This paper was published in The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual issue 16, in 2022. The full text can be found on the publisher Raffaello Cortina's website: https://riviste.raffaellocortina.it/scheda-articolo_digital/stefano-bolognini/hidden-unconscious-buried-unconscious-implicit-unconscious-Annual_2022_7-3814.html The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual 2022/16 https://riviste.raffaellocortina.it/scheda-fascicolo_contenitore_digital/autori-vari/the-italian-psychoanalytic-annual-2022-16-9788832854947-3807.html The current extension of the concept of the Unconscious to different levels, configurations, and functioning of the mind is the result of decades of collective reflection on clinical work as well as on theory. Analysts today have a broader, more refined and complex knowledge of defensive and transformative processes, and this has also led to an evolution in technique. The paper we present today is a combination of psychoanalytic theory and technique through two clinical cases that present complex articulations of spurious unconscious functional areas and modalities, alternately the repressed and the not repressed. Stefano Bolognini is a psychiatrist and training analyst of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, of which he was Scientific Secretary and President. After serving as Representative on the first IPA Board, he became its President in 2013 and served in that role until 2017.He also founded the "IPA Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis" and is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin (IPU), Honorary Member of the New York Contemporary Freudian Society (NYCFS), and of the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS). Bolognini was a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis for 10 years, and has published over 250 psychoanalytic works, both books and papers. This Podcast Series, published by the International Psychoanalytical Association, is part of the activities of the IPA Communication Committee and is produced by the IPA Podcast Editorial Team. Head of the Podcast Editorial Team: Gaetano Pellegrini. Editing and Post-Production: Massimiliano Guerrieri.Proof Reading: Elizabeth Danze and Valentine Moscovici.