MARILYN JACOBS, PH.D., ABPP

What can Psychoanalysis Contribute to the Care of Physical Illness and Pain?

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020, 9AM TO 1PM

In health care settings worldwide, psychological treatments of pain related physical illness have been dominated by therapies aimed at conscious control and stress management (i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy and its derivatives) leading to the marginalization of psychoanalytic perspectives.  This course will provide an alternative viewpoint. It will consider the efficacy of psychoanalysis for patients with medical conditions and in particular those suffering with chronic pain. It will also include discussion of psychosomatic presentations. The course will begin with a review of the history of psychoanalysis and medicine including the current state of medical practice and the doctor-patient relationship.  An explanation of the biology of pain and common pain conditions will follow.  The presentation will conclude with an integrated psychoanalytic perspective (classical and contemporary) informed by sociocultural and neurobiological insights. The presentation will be illustrated by relevant clinical vignettes.