MIGHT FREUD

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MIGHT FREUDS LEGACY LIE BEYOND THE COUCH
? Stuart W. Twemlow, MD
Freud Conference Melbourne, Australia May 20,
2006
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Stuart.Twemlow_at_gmail.com
Analysts in the Trenches, Streets, Schools, and
War Zones, Sklarew, Twemlow, and Wilkinson,
Analytic Press, New Jersey, 2004
The Future of Prejudice Applications of
Psychoanalytic Understanding Toward Its
Prevention, Rowman Littlefield, New York, 2007
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History of Applied Analysis

• Anna Freud/Erik Erikson
• London Nurseries
• Teacher Training
• Legal Advocate (Best Interests)
• August Aichorn and Fritz Redl
• Delinquents Understood and Treated
  Therapeutically
• Gang Behaviors Project
• Karl Menninger
• Villages Projects
• Vamik Volkan
• Ethnic Conflicts and Diplomacy
• Eliott Jaques Requisite Organizations
• Wilhelm Reich Free Clinic and Prevention
  concept Vienna Berlin

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Modern Applications

• Henri Parens and Parenting
• Sklarew and Grieving Children in Schools
• Altman and Inner City Racial Tensions
• Marens and Police/ Community Relationships
• Homeless Shelter in Bronx Alan Felix
• Yale Infant and Mother Project Linda Mayes
• Twemlow Fonagy Mentalizing Schools
  Communities
• John Bowlby Peter Fonagy Attachment Theory
  Parenting Styles
• Aaron Beck Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Susan Coates Acute Trauma

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Principles of the Traditional Clinical Approach

• Consultative/ Tavistock model
• Diagnosis of Large Small Group Dynamics of
  Organization is distinct from interventional
  strategies
• Recommendations not Interventions
• Model is Group-as a -Whole
• Interpretation is the Method

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Principles of Active Interventionist-Group
Focused Approach

• Create Safe Common Ground to Allow Free
  Expression
• Develop Habit of Collaboration Start with Easy
  Issues
• Humanize People Apart from Painful Issues
• Set Boundaries for Allowing Respect for
  Differences
• Common Language
• Process is the Fix No Magic Bullet
• Non-Blaming Partnerships
• Facilitator Must be Neutral Goal is Why How to
  Fix

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PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTITY

• Derived from Mode of Action
• Analyst is a Team Member NOT the Leader
• Unique Knowledge of Unconscious Motivation
  Group Process ( cf Rational Actor Approach)

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PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTITY Clinical Perspective

• Analysts expertise attributed to benefits of
  psychoanalytic training Analyst has expertise
  that the patient does not have
• Focuses on pathology
• Analyst serves individual patients
• Analyst works confidentially with individual
• Neutrality is protected through equidistance
  (variously defined)
• Trauma is to be recognized and integrated
• Relationship is laboratory for change
• Transference is used to bring to the individual
  patients attention to problematic behaviors
• Regression is necessary to elucidate clinical
  facts
• Countertransference analysis is valuable data and
  helps address apparent impasse
• Technique addresses resistance
• Technique hinges on interpretation
• Relative thrust toward autonomy and
  differentiation of the individual
• Enhances reflective self-functioning

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PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTITY The Community
Perspective I

• Analysts expertise conferred by degree to which
  s/he is helpful fosters leadership and
  collaboration in community experts (parents,
  teachers, police, etc.)
• Focuses on prevention, adaptation and restoration
• Groups are recipients of interventions
• Analyst works publicly to change how a group
  functions
• Neutrality is protected by an altruistic focus on
  goals which may be passionately held
• Trauma defines group membership
• Relationships are mutative partnerships between
  stakeholders across multiple
• sectors of community, enhance outcome
• Transference is used to propel adaptive solutions
  without necessarily interpreting
• Facts developed from shared experiences and
  examined in context contrasts with administrative
  or non-psychoanalytic fact-finding

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PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTITY The Community
Perspective II

• Partners from different disciplines can help each
  other take off blinders inevitably created by
  distinct points of view
• Resistance creates opportunity for subversive
  pressure that may be more experiential than
  interpretive. Allows for identification of
  conditions necessary for a shift to
  collaboration.
• The act of designing an interaction between
  antagonistic groups brings to light obstacles to
  change.
• Relative thrust toward community-generated
  solutions
• Enhance community responsibility across different
  groups/identities

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PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTITY Common Elements

• Developmental perspective imperative in fact,
  developmental perspective may be missing from
  more traditional community problem solving
  strategies
• Holding and containing are an important frame of
  reference
• All sides of the conflict are respected and
  privileged in the process of working through
• Appreciation of the others subjectivity
• Sufficiently motivating anxiety is necessary
• Compartmentalized solutions for specific symptoms
  are likely to fail
• Urgent requests to fix/ short-term solutions are
  best examined further

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In Summary The Community Analyst

• Fosters Collaboration in Community Experts
• Focuses on Prevention, Adaptation, Restoration
• Groups are the Focus of Interventions
• Works Publicly to Change How a Group Functions
• Neutrality Based on Altruistic Focus on Shared
  Goals
• Trauma Defines Group Membership
• Creates Multiple Partnerships
• Uses Transference to Propel Adaptation
• Facts Developed from Shared Experiences
• Resistances are used to shift from Coercive to
  Collaborative Relationships in the Stakeholders

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there is one topic which I cannot pass over so
easilynot, however, because I understand
particularly much about it or have contributed
very much to it. Quite the contrary I have
scarcely concerned myself with it at all. I must
mention it because it is so exceedingly
important, so rich in hopes for the future,
perhaps the most important of all the activities
of analysis. What I am thinking of is the
application of psycho-analysis to education, to
the rearing of the next generation. (p. 146 )
Sigmund Freud. 1933, New Introductory Lectures
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Applying Analytic Solutions to School Problems

• Mentalisation staff, students parents and
  communities mentalize each other
• Power Dynamics are recognised rebalanced
• Developing Social Emotional Relational Skills
• Making and Deepening Friendships
• Capacity to Control, Modulate, Sublimate
• Develop Work Group Collaboration
• Altruism and Social Responsibility
• Climate Buy-in Focused

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Common Resistances to School Violence Prevention

• Lack of Long-Term Commitment of Resources
• Poor Understanding of Children as Humans
• Lack of Integrated Systematic Effort to change
  School Climate
• Hopelessness and Ongoing Lack of Safety
• Poor Training of Adults to Recognize at risk
  children
• Too Much Focus on Physical Safety Security of
  Plant
• Lack of Attention to Adult Bullying of Children
  Childrens Bullying of teachers and Parents
  Bullying of Teachers

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PEACEFUL SCHOOLS INITIATIVE

• Bystander Focus NOT Victim-Victimizer
  Interaction
• Creating Teacher Buy-In
• Long-Term Commitment
• Natural Leaders
• Training Bystanders to Be Aware and Become
  Involved

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Bystander Must

• BE AWARE
• MAKE A COMMITMENT
• HAVE THE SKILLS
• BE A NATURAL LEADER

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For Example Analytic TechniquesUsing
Childrens Music

• Back Off Bully Song for K-6
• Impacting Unconscious
• Creating Mentalising
• Fostering Collaboration
• Involving the Home in School Climate
• Teaching About Unconscious Power
• Impacts Groups of Children-FUN!!!!

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BACK OFF BULLY Back Off Bully, Get Out of My
Face, Everybody Needs their Personal Space, Do
Your Own Thing, Get Off My Case, Did You Ever
Notice that Trouble Comes In Threes, The Bully,
The Bystander, and The Victim, Thats me, The
Bully Needs Attention, The Victim gets Hurt The
Bystander just Watches and Doesnt say A
Word, Shame is The Bullys Game, The Victim
Stands There And Takes The Pain, Bystander You
fan The Flames, Round and Round Its a Hurtin
Game, We Dont Like The Bully Game, With All
That Pain And Shame, Weve Got Other Things To
Do, Better Roles To Play, Im Not A Victim, I am A
Person, I Will Stand Up For Myself, Im Not A
Bystander, I am A Friend Who Can Look After
Someone Else, Change Bully, You Can Change, You
Dont have To Play That Hurtn Game, Try A
Different Role, Try A Brand New Way, Its Easy,
All You Have To Say Is BACK OFF B ULLY
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FREUD CAN BE FUN..
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International Applications

• Implementing PEACEFUL SCHOOLS in Jamaica
• Resistances Ms. W
• Use of the Internet for Supervision
• Evaluation and Program Development

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Establish a Reliable Liaison

• When working abroad, supervision can occur
  from afar, but local presence under analytic
  direction is a must.

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Activating the Bystander

• Identify High Risk Group
• Create a Way to Be Valued for Helpful Bystanding
• Create Hope

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Developing Natural Leaders

• Activation of Helpful Bystander by Finding and
  Supporting Natural Leadership

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Follow Through

• Create a Self Sustaining Source of Revenue by
  Connecting US Students and Teachers Using the
  FRIEND BRACELETS

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• Listening Diagnosing

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(No Transcript)
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Police Intervention 100 Hours of Training
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Active Intervention Police-Community Dialogue
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Training Natural Leaders
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Experiencing a Problem Directly
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Teacher Training Using the Internet
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BACK OFF BULLY Applied Psychoanalysis
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TEACHER RECOGNITION AWARDS
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Teacher Essay Contest
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Training Psychoanalysts and Those with
Psychoanalytic Sympathies Year I

• Identity as a Community Psychoanalyst.
• Compare the concept to clinical models.
• Study the history of psychoanalysis as a general
  psychology versus a general treatment method.
• Study the approaches to community and social
  issues including ones that focus on effecting
  change through action compared to effecting
  change through consultation and interpretation.
• A study of small group dynamics.
• A study of large group dynamics.
• How to get involved in the community.

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Training Psychoanalysts and Those with
Psychoanalytic Sympathies Year II

• 1. Addressing community problems that have become
  relevant to immediate community needs, e.g.,
  violence.
• 2. Addressing more primary prevention issues for
  example (a) improving parenting of children at
  home and (b) improving the social and emotional
  education of children in schools.
• 3. Organizational consultation comparing
  agencies who are not working effectively, who
  request a more traditional clinical model
  consultation to help them function, with the
  group focussed-interventionist approach..
• 4. The impact of social issues on community
  integration and cohesion for example the role of
  immigrants, refugees, exiles, different socio-
  economic groups, racial/ethnic groups, gender
  bias and religious intolerance etc, on community
  functioning.
• 5. The area of negotiation and mediation
  particularly of labor disputes and political
  issues.
• 6. Working with underprivileged populations
  addressing issues that are chronic, for example
  dealing with the homeless populations.
• 7. Publicizing oneself as community psychoanalyst

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Eric Erikson, who in a talk while in India in
1963, delivered a statement that continues to
reverberate Mans socio-genetic evolution is
about to reach a crisis in the full sense of the
word, a cross roads offering one path to
fatality, and one to recovery and further growth.
Artful, perverter of joy and keen exploiter of
strength, man is the animal that has learned to
survive in a fashion, to multiply without food
for the multitudes, to grow up healthily without
reaching personal maturity, to live well but
without purpose, to invent ingeniously without
aim, and to kill grandiosely without need (p.
227). Erikson E. (1964). Insight
Responsibility, New York, W W Norton Co.