Psychoanalytic Fictions is a reading group for therapists interested in exploring the psychological life of a novel through a psychoanalytic lens. In a small, intimate setting, we’ll think together about literature, psychoanalytic ideas, and clinical practice. Whether you’re new to psychoanalytic thinking or have been engaged with it for years, you’re welcome to join us. The group is an opportunity to explore ideas, share questions, and think alongside others, without needing any particular level of theoretical knowledge or experience.
Together, we’ll read Milk Fed by Melissa Broder, a novel about hunger, desire, and the complicated relationship between the body and the self. As the protagonist’s restrictive world is disrupted by queer desire and her fascination with another woman’s fatness, the novel invites questions about what we imagine another person’s body might offer us and what desire reveals about ourselves. Through a relational psychoanalytic lens, we’ll consider embodiment, object relations, and the ways social meanings become intertwined with psychic life.
Participants will bring clinical experiences and questions into conversation with the text, alongside readings by Muriel Dimen, Jody Messler Davies, Galit Atlas, and other contemporary and foundational psychoanalytic thinkers.
The group will be facilitated by Rebecca Sivitz Tew, LICSW, a relational psychoanalytic psychotherapist whose work is informed by feminist, queer, and decolonial frameworks. She has taught in the field, published in Psychoanalytic Dialogues and Studies in Gender and Sexuality, and serves as a peer reviewer for Psychoanalytic Dialogues and the Division 39 Spring Conference.
Format: 4 weekly meetings on Zoom
Dates: January 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th
Time: Monday evenings, 7pm-8:30pm EST
Cost: $240
CEUs: Documentation of course completion, learning objectives, instructional hours, and assigned readings will be provided. Participants are responsible for determining whether this documentation may be used to obtain continuing education credit through their applicable licensing board or professional organization.
If you are interested or would like to learn more please use the contact form below.