Intersectionality, Social Context, and the Co-Creation of Clinical Experience

Second Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2022-23, 3rd Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Kelly Lippman, LMHC

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May 19, 2023 — Persecutory and depressive guilt, splitting, breakdowns in thinking and the limits of repair

[26 pages]

Caflisch uses contemporary Kleinian conceptualizations of guilt, and particularly persecutory guilt, to explore what gets in the way of white engagement with responsibility, concern, and reparative action. Cyrus grounds the theoretical in the real by discussing Caflisch’s paper in the context of her lived experience and the severity of ongoing racial trauma in our society. By examining the real harm caused by the dynamics of white guilt and the trauma response in those harmed, she takes Caflisch’s ideas to the interpersonal realm.

Caflisch, J. (2020). When reparation is felt to be impossible: Persecutory Guilt and Breakdowns in Thinking and Dialogue about Race. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 30(5), 578-594.

Cyrus, K. (2020). When reparation is impossible: A Discussion of “When Reparation is felt to be impossible: Persecutory Guilt and Breakdowns in Thinking and Dialogue about Race.” Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 30(5), 595-603.