PLENARY OVERVIEW

Here are descriptions of the plenaries scheduled for the Conference (all of which will be available remotely):

“Freedom of Knowing, Freedom of Being: The Dialectic between Multiplicity and Unicity in Politics and in Psychoanalytic Work” with panelists Gianni Nebbiosi and Spyros Orfanos; interlocutor, Alkinoi Lala

In political and relational psychoanalytic process, the multiplicity and unicity of the subject have a double representational quality. One includes the way it is self-represented; the second includes the ways it is perceived by others. This plenary will explore the various issues arising from the convergence or differentiation of these two representations of the subject in the clinical and political field, regarding freedom of clinical/political choices and its misuse.

“The Dialectics of Clinical and Social Freedom and Tyranny in the Consulting Room” with panelists Earl Hopper, Carlos Rodríguez Sutil, and Amir Hossein Jalali Nadoushan; interlocutor, Photini Doumoura

The analytic dyad constantly interacts on an intrapsychic, intersubjective, group, and intergenerational level. These four levels are sometimes complementary while other times they diverge from each other. This panel will present the dialectical relationship of those levels and how they contribute to the genesis of tyranny and liberation phenomena at the clinical level and in continuity with social reality. We will also see ways in which the analytic dyad has freed itself from ‘tyranny’ and has presented more creatively in its analytic work.

“Caring for a Psychoanalytic Community: Using Social Unconscious and Group Dynamic Theories to Expand Our Understanding of Power Dynamics” with Gila Ofer, Haim Weinberg and Stavros Charalambides; interlocutor, Avi Berman

The various psychoanalytic communities are in constant ferment with internal rearrangements within their system but also in continuous interaction with external issues ‘outside’ of their system. This plenary aims to help us understand how components of the social unconscious as well as theories of group dynamics are necessary to adequately understand ruptures and repairs in the communication between subgroups of psychoanalytic communities. In particular, the correlation of vertical and horizontal axis of influence in psychoanalytic organizations will be investigated.

“What is Happening to Us? The Ongoing Impact of Cumulative Trauma and Existential Crisis on the Clinician” with panelists Fabia Banella and Alexander Levchuk; discussant Steven Kuchuck

In relational psychoanalysis, the simultaneous inquiry of the analyst’s impact on the analysand and vice versa is emphatic. In this plenary, we will study the cumulative effect of traumatic conditions on the analyst’s psyche, his/her existential need to survive them, and how the analyst’s subjectivity is ultimately limited and/or enriched. How does the analyst’s adaptability affect the clinical work, regarding the various wars, the political changes of the last years, the polarization in the society, the pandemic, and the climate changes?

“The Psyche Around Us: Relational Psychoanalysis in Engagement with Severely Distressed Communities” with panelists Ilana Laor and Afarin Kohan; interlocutor, Victor Doñas

In severely distressed communities, trauma is not only individual but also shared. This specific condition can confine or even liberate the analyst during the psychoanalytic process. This plenary will explore the various ways that the analytic third contains or/and ostracizes the effects of collective trauma on the analytic dyad.

“Concluding Remarks” with Sandra Toribio Caballero

If you have any questions, please contact IARPP Conference Manager Nilou Mostofi at nilou@km-direct.com.

We look forward to seeing you in Athens.

Warmest wishes,
Alkinoi, Fontini and Stavros

Alkinoi Lala, Fotini Doumoura and Stavros Charalambides (all of Greece),
2025 IARPP Conference Co-Chairs