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Continuation of Opening Phase to Early Middle Phase
February 19, 2021 @ 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm, Freud Classroom
Fourth Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2020-21, 2nd Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Diane Wolman, MSW
Scot Gibson, MD
View Whole Syllabus
February 19, 2021 — Psychopharmacology and Psychoanalysis
Presenter: Scot Gibson, MD
[49 pages]
For many years, treatment with medications was eschewed by psychoanalysts. In the past 30 or so years, the pendulum has swung in the other direction, and it is now generally well-accepted that concurrent treatment with medications and psychoanalytic treatment can be very successful. Purcell cautions that we as analysts not be too cavalier toward this “new” acceptance of medication use in our patients, suggesting that it can be useful to view the introduction of medications as an enactment in the treatment so that it can be rigorously examined for transference and countertransference meanings.
Bers’ article is an examination of what it is like for a non-prescriber, candidate analyst to have a patient begin using medications during the treatment. Her case report is very thorough so if you’re short on time you may want to skim through some of the details (though the flip side of it being prolix is that it gives you a very thorough view into the analysis). Of particular note is the interactions she had with her supervisor around the medication, and the point that the meanings and dynamic implications of the medication can be well-examined even if one is not the prescriber.
Purcell, S.D. (2008). The Analyst’s Attitude toward Pharmacotherapy, JAPA, 56:913-934.
Bers, S.A. (2006). Learning about Psychoanalysis Combined with Medication: A Nonphysician’s Perspective, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 54(3):805-831.
Optional Reading
Tutter, A. (2006). Medication as Object, JAPA, 54:781-804.
Tutter, A. (2009). Romantic Fantasies of Madness and Objections to Psychotropic Medication, JAPA, 57:631-655.
These articles by Tutter are very rich, cogent, interesting, and well-written. The first (Medication as Object) is frequently cited by other articles on this topic, with good reason. I didn’t assign them because I had other points I wanted to stress, but reading them is a pleasure and would advance your thinking on this topic.
