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Diversity and Intersectionality of Identity
September 9, 2019 @ 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm
Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (APP)
2019-20, 1st Block — Mondays, 6:30-7:45pm
Jacqui Metzger, MSW
View Whole Syllabus
Introduction
In our work as therapists, we bring ourselves – our feelings and reactions – to our daily sessions with our patients. We are faced with and grapple with our patients’ “otherness” including for example, our reactions to those who are of a different gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, race, ethnic background, age, social or economic class, or who are differently abled.
This course is intended to offer us opportunities to explore and reflect on our reactions to “difference” — to become more curious about what we don’t know or understand about “others” including our misperceptions, defenses and other biased views which may be uncomfortable and disturbing.
Having the chance to listen to the stories and life experiences of a diverse group of guest lecturers is a chance to think together and talk about experiences we have with our patients. We hope this will allow you to feel more comfortable being curious and open to important differences between your patients and yourself.
In addition we’re introducing the broad concept of intersectionality to help us recognize and think about “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.
“Kimberly Crenshaw introduced the theory of intersectionality, the idea that when it comes to thinking about how inequalities persist, categories like gender, race, and class are best understood as overlapping and mutually constitutive rather than isolated and distinct.”
— Adia Harvey Wingfield (definition: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Learning Objectives
- At the end of this course, students will be able to recognize ways in which “difference” of both therapist and patient can impact the work
- At the end of this course, students will be able to identify areas or situations when discomfort is experienced related to “difference”
- At the end of this course, students will be able to develop increased curiosity about “difference” and the impact on both the therapist’s and patient’s ability to engage.
September 9, 2019 — What’s So Scary About Race?
Presenter: Sandra Walker, MD
[52 pages]
This class will be based on thought exercises intended help participants identify areas of uncertainty, discomfort or vacancy in the experience of race as well as ways in which this might impact alliance, transference, and counter-transference in the clinical situation.
Prior to the class, Dr. Walker encourages you to watch the feature film Sankofa (1993), a film by Haile Gerima. (embedded below)
Powell, D.R. (2018). Race, African Americans, and Psychoanalysis: Collective Silence in the Therapeutic Conversation. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 66(6):1021-1049.
Stephens, M. (2018). “Playing Out” Our “Playing in the Dark”: Racial Enactments and Psychoanalytic Institutions. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 66(5):941-950.
Apprey, M. (1999). Reinventing the Self in the Face of Received Transgenerational Hatred in the African American Community. J. Appl. Psychoanal. Stud., 1(2):131-143.
Akhtar, S., ed. (2012), The African American Experience: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Jason Aronson, UK.
Includes: Character Studies — Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama; Contributors include — Jan Wright, Dionne Powell, Salman Akhtar, Shawn Blue, Clarence Watson, David B. Campbell, Glenda Wrenn, Kimberlyn Leary, Forrest Hamer, Carlotta Miles, Christin Drake, Samuel Wyche, Cheryl Thompson, Dorothy Holmes, Jennifer Bonovitz.
Akhtar, S.; Kramer, S., eds. (2004), The Colors of Childhood, Roman and Littlefield, MD.
Contributors — Selma Kramer, MD; Daniel Freeman, MD; Calvin Settlage, MD; Carlotta Miles, MD; Salman Akhtar, MD; Purnima Mehta, MD; Jennifer Bonobitz, Ph.D; Henri Parens, MD.
