Both psychoanalysis and religion address, in distinct ways, questions about “ultimate concerns”: love, desire, identity, purpose, meaning, and how our humanity develops and finds expression in relation to self, others, and what is beyond us. And yet, the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion has long been characterized by mutual criticism, misunderstanding, and/or total disregard. The decades of tension have not affected the ubiquity of religion or spirituality in our culture or in the lives of our patients (or ourselves), and so when patients bring in material of a religious or spiritual nature, many analysts find themselves at a loss. How might we expand our analytic framework to understand and engage patient’s spiritual material in a way that is neither reductionistic nor uncritically accepting? How can we evaluate the psychological benefits or detriments of a patients’ religions framework and the notions of religious identity, loss, mourning, and moral injury particularly in this era of religious scandal, clergy sexual abuse, and cultural conflict?

This workshop will examine issues such as faith, god-images, fundamentalism, trauma, moral injury, and “healthy” vs “unhealthy” spirituality from a relational psychoanalytic perspective informed by the theories of Winnicott, Benjamin, Ghent, Kohut, Shaw, and others. We will consider theoretical and clinical approaches to working with the diversities of our patients’ religious or spiritual experience no matter what our own spiritual orientation (or lack thereof), and take up contemporary realities of Christian right-wing activism, Christian nationalism and working across religious divides. There will be time to discuss participants’ clinical material.

Lisa Cataldo, MDiv, PhD is a psychoanalyst and associate professor of mental health counseling and spiritual integration at Fordham University. She is a faculty member and supervisor at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and the Stephen A. Mitchell Relational Studies Center in New York. Lisa is an award-winning author of many articles and book chapters addressing the intersection of relational psychoanalysis and religion, most recently around issues of trauma, moral injury, and religious identity. An international speaker and consultant on the issues of clergy sexual abuse, betrayal trauma, and moral injury, Lisa is a member of the Fordham University initiative “Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse.” Her individual project, “When ‘they’ are us: Toward a trauma-informed perspective on complicity, moral injury, and moral witnessing” addresses the psychological impact of participating in abusive religious systems. Lisa maintains a private practice in New York.

Registration

• Registration fee: $190
• SPSI Members: $175
• SPSI Faculty: $165
• Candidates/residents/graduate students: $150

Refund Policy: Refunds given until one week before the event.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate working definitions of spirituality, religion, faith, and belief in relational psychoanalytic perspective
2. Describe the developmental and relational dynamics at work in the formation of “healthy” and “unhealthy” faith, religion, or spirituality
3. Articulate a basic framework for engaging with patients’ religious or spiritual material in clinical work.

Continuing Education Credit

SPSI is in the process of applying for credit for this activity.

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 the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

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.

5 hours Category II CME. This presentation meets the requirements of WAC 246-924-240 (Definition of Category of Creditable CPE). This program has been approved for 5 CEUs by the NASW Washington State Chapter. Licensed Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors are eligible. Provider number is #1975-144.