Imagination and the Resistance to Reality: Destruction, Creativity, and Intersubjectivity in Winnicott’s “Use of the Object”
Event Description:
Winnicott is the most complex and deep of all analytic theorists writing in English, and surely the most popular. But he is also one of the most elusive. Nowhere is this more obvious than in “the use of the object” essay. Its signature mini-narrative---“subject destroys object; object survives destruction; subject can use object”—is one of the most familiar and helpful of all our analytic aphorisms, but as one tries to grasp it, it can slip away like a handful of sand.
This presentation works through a selection of its key implications: First, Winnicott is offering a developmental epistemology resting on object relations, rather than drive-ego relations; thus he is continuing his radical reworking of both Klein and Freud. Object usage ushers in a new form of intersubjective space and time, a new form of Being. From this vantage point, destruction is formulated as a normal developmental and ontological resistance to externality and reality, rather than something violent in the conventional sense. This clarifies Winnicott’s clarion call for restraint in making interpretations, especially in relation to borderline transferences. Winnicott’s style performs psychoanalysis, like the later Bion and many of Freud’s most intricate essays.
*Come early to join us for a continental breakfast and coffee served prior to the presentation.
When
Where
CEUs
Cost
Educational Objective(s)
- Apply the concept of “object usage” in case formulation in challenging psychotherapy cases
- Use attention to patients’ imagination to make more effective interventions
Presenter Information
Stephen Seligman, Ph.D.
Stephen Seligman is Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy; Training and Consulting Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis; Joint Editor-in-Chief of Psychoanalytic Dialogues; author, Relationships in Development: Infancy, Intersubjectivity, and Attachment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing Professional Education Accreditation
The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center (SDPC), is proud to offer CME credit to Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Psychologists and Social Workers. These CME credits will usually satisfy requirements for Social Worker and Psychologist CEUs. However, clinicians should consult their state licensing boards for final approval. Please see the CE/CME credits page for more information.
Continuing Education certificates of attendance will be awarded electronically upon completion of an evaluation form. For refund policies or cancellations, please visit our policies page. Any other questions, contact the SDPC Continuing Education Manager.
AMA Credit Designation Statement: The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center designates this Continuing Education activity for a maximum of 2 hours AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™️. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
CAMFT Accreditation: The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center (SDPC) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) as a continuing education provider, (#050121), to offer Category 1 credit for LMFT’S, LCSW’S, LPCC’S and LEP’S. SDPC as required by the California Board of Behavior Sciences. SDPC maintains responsibility for this course program and all of its content.
Psychologists: SDPC is also approved as a Continuing Education Provider by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider number PCE#794, to offer Category 1 credit for LCSWs, MFTs, and Registered Nurses, Provider Numbers CEP#4940. The California Board of Psychology accepts the Category 1 CE credits from the CMA. Psychologists are responsible for reporting their individual attendance to the Board of Psychology. All attendees are responsible for keeping their certificate of attendance for personal records.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program has any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center (SDPC) CME Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that none of the planners and presenters for this activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. This activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation, and disclosure of relevant financial relationships. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content that an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
Statement of Commitment: San Diego Psychoanalytic Center does not discriminate in employment and in its educational programs and activities, including admission or access thereto, on the basis of race, national origin, color, creed, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center is affiliated with the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA), the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA), and the organization of Southern California Psychoanalytic Institutes and Societies.
The San Diego Psychoanalytic Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.