Stop in and say hello.

Gregory S. Rizzolo, PhD, is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and a faculty member at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the author of the Critique of Regression (Routledge, 2019), and his work has appeared in Psychoanalytic Psychology, the Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, among others.

“Obsessional neurosis is unquestionably the most interesting and repaying subject of analytic research. But as a problem it has not yet been mastered.” – Freud, 1926

The obsessional neurosis occupies a privileged yet enigmatic position in psychoanalytic history. Along with hysteria, Freud considered it a model condition for psychoanalytic intervention. He believed that it should have been easier to analyze than hysteria, in fact, because it manifests itself in language rather than in the obscurities of bodily symptoms. As late as 1926, and although he had already posited the central role of anality, he wrote, however, that the problem of the obsessional neurosis had yet to be solved. The difficult seemed to lie, at least in part, the heterogeneity of the disorder, that is, in its “variety of forms.” This talk presents three of the key developmental milestones that go into shaping obsessive and compulsive suffering: the just-so behavior of toddlerhood, the real-ideal self-discrepancy of later childhood, and narrative trends of adolescence and adulthood. I argue that we should think of obsessions and compulsions not as the result of any one fixation, but as a disorder of initiative that evolves across the lifespan. By means of this approach, we can not only account for a wider variety of obsessive presentations, but also better appreciate the nature of therapeutic action in psychoanalytic approaches.

(1) Participants will be able to situate obsessive compulsive disorder in the history of psychoanalytic thought.

(2) Participants will be able to identify the problems that have historically made it difficult for theorists and researches to understand the etiology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive problems.

(3) Participants will be able to articulate the benefits of a lifespan approach to this complex disorder.

ACCME Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Psychoanalytic Association of New York. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support. 

Psychoanalytic Association of New York (affiliated with NYU Grossman School of Medicine) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0112.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with NYU School of Medicine is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0124.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P0064.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0304.

Since Freud's opus of 1900 the dream and the process of dreaming remain the royal road to the heart of our work. To know how to work with dreams is tantamount to knowing how to do psychoanalysis. This lecture will review the core discoveries of mind, starting with Freud, which explains the why and wherefore of dreaming with the goal of underscoring how to work with them in the office to enrich and deepen the therapeutic exchange.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York (affiliated with NYU Grossman School of Medicine) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0112.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with NYU School of Medicine is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0124.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P0064.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0304.

Chap Attwell, MD

Individual psychoanalysis offers a host of pitfalls and opportunities for psychological growth through the use and analysis of transference, unconscious fantasy, dream analysis, interpretation, and a strong working alliance. Few candidates in training know that group psychoanalysis offers unique windows into the understanding and treatment of the pre-Oedipal character, early life trauma, addiction disorders, and other difficult-to-formulate, unconscious, persistent struggles.

In this 90 minute offering, Dr. Attwell will introduce the class to the didactic similarities and differences between individual and group psychoanalysis as well as how they can work in effective tandem. He will then run a 30 minute experiential group to illustrate the key principles in a here-and-now focus on growth of the interpersonal ego and meaningful affective communication. In closing, the class will wrestle to link the didactic and experiential portions of the class to illuminate future directions of learning.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York (affiliated with NYU Grossman School of Medicine) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0112.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with NYU School of Medicine is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0124.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P0064.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0304.