The Traumatic No Man’s Land of Psychic Devastation: Beyond Mourning and Melancholia
This colloquium will centre on Julie Gerhardt’s (2020) paper “The Traumatic No Man’s Land of Psychic Devastation: Beyond Mourning and Melancholia.” This eloquent paper takes on a state of grief and loss beyond mourning and melancholia, and “makes a case for acknowledging a third category of loss: psychic devastation … that turns out to be an impediment to the process of mourning.”
We felt that this paper aligns with collective experiences of grief and loss widespread now across the globe, and is therefore emotionally relevant to our membership. Offering both theoretic formulation and a generous glimpse into the author’s personal experiences of loss, we hope this article opens opportunities for discussion and thought in our upcoming colloquium.
We hope to foster this experiential and theoretical opportunity by choosing participants who will engage the paper and each other with a wide-angle view of psychological and psychoanalytic theory. In our communications with her, Julie Gerhardt has shown herself to be a sensitive, warm and engaging author who we feel sure will manage the task of being our colloquium author with grace and style. Likewise, we feel sure our distinguished panel of discussants will bring their unique voices to the mix.
As usual, the paper will be translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek and Russian, and while the colloquium language is English, members will be welcome to write posts in their own language as well, as an appendage to the English version of their posts.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this colloquium, participants will be able to:
- Compare different concepts of mourning in the psychoanalytic literature
- Describe the limitations of the Freudian concepts of “mourning” and “melancholia”
- Describe contemporary psychoanalytic views of mourning a loss
- Describe Gerhardt’s use of the term “devastation”
- Discuss the characteristics of the psychic state of devastation
- Identify clinical examples of the psychic state of devastation
- Discuss the therapeutic value of identifying internal states beyond “mourning” and “melancholia”
- Describe factors that both, interfere and facilitate the mourning of a loved one
CONTINUING EDUCATION:
3 Credit Hours
NYSEDSW The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0202.
NYSEDP International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts. #P-0037.
NYSEDMFT International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and
family therapists. #MFT-0070.
APA CEs and NYSED credits for psychologists are available for this colloquium through our partners CEUnits.com. You do not need to do anything else other than submit your test and evaluation through us.
NASW approval is pending.