By Adrienne Harris (USA) and Rina Lazar (Israel)

We recently concluded our second colloquium of 2017, which took place from November 6 to 19.  We discussed a paper by Boaz Shalgi (Israel) entitled, “When Time Stands Still: The Non-interactive Interaction in the Psychoanalytic Encounter,” which is due to be published in Psychoanalytic Dialogues very soon.

The panelists, who did such careful, deep, consistent work, were:  Shlomo Beinart (Israel), Janine De Peyer (USA), Alejandro Ávila Espada (Spain), Juan Francisco Jordan (Chile), Sam Gerson (USA), Robert Grossmark (USA), Judit Meszaros (Hungary), Peter Shabad (USA), Sally Swartz (South Africa), and Eng-Kong Tan (Australia).

Boaz and the panelists began with a very strong set of posts that ventured deeply into the presence of death in our clinical situations, in our patients, and in ourselves.  That discussion, along with the wider conversation among the IARPP membership that followed, were strongly focused on the clinical and the personal.

The clinical and theoretical material that Boaz wrote about in his paper and then taught us so deeply and carefully during our colloquium was very widely meaningful to our organization, as seen in the postings from our IARPP members. Pain, dread, and, perhaps not surprisingly, shame were ubiquitous in people’s posts and comments.

Upon concluding this colloquium we wrote, “It has been a kind of Odyssey for all of us to move from Boaz’s paper to our own efforts ‘to enter into death with open eyes.’ We did it through our clinical and personal stories, trying to reach our deadened patients, and discovering our failed, exhausted, infertile, and deadened parts.

We want to thank Boaz for taking us to the gates of our death-laden lives and accompanying us on this path, the panelists who stayed with us as guards on this voyage, and all the IARPP members who actively participated, along with those who were our observing participants.”

We are wishing to meet you again in our next colloquium, which will take place from May 21 to June 3, 2018.

We conclude by reminding everyone in the organization – listeners, participants, panelists, moderators, and presenters – that we strive to be respectful and careful in these discussions. Internet communication leaves out so many interpersonal cues when we write back and forth about such intense and personal topics.  We want to support difference, questioning, and challenging ideas, but we want to do this in the spirit of respect and care.

Adrienne Harris and Rina Lazar

Adrienne E. Harris, PhD
80 University Place, 5th floor
New York, NY 10003. USA
Email Adrienne Harris

Rina Lazar, PhD
Ramot Naftali 9
Tel Aviv 69278. Israel
Email Rina Lazar