About Psychoanalytic Thinking
Psychoanalytic Thinking is the digital home of Michael Benn's broader psychoanalytic work and conversations - connecting clinicians, thinkers and the public through ideas that matter.
OUR PURPOSE
Ideas that deepen understanding. Conversations that connect.
We explore psychoanalytic thinking in relation to the complex realities of contemporary life - including trauma, identity, race, sexuality, politics, culture, relationships and the human condition.
Through interviews, talks, events and collaborations, we create spaces for reflection, dialogue and meaningful engagement.
"Psychoanalysis helps us understand not only the mind, but also the society in which we live and the relationships we form within it."
More on Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis is a theory of the human mind, or method of enquiry into the human psyche. While psychoanalysis began as a therapeutic practice by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, it is now seen to have broader application.
The four major areas of application of Psychoanalysis are:
- a theory of how the mind work;a treatment method for psychic problems;
- a method of research, and
- a way of viewing cultural and social phenomena like
literature, art, movies, performances, politics and groups.
The PPP groups encourage discussion across these 4 areas of application.
The purpose of psychoanalytic thinking is to help people change and progress in their lives at not only on a conscious level but also an unconscious level. The development of self-awareness or insight is part of the process of achieving progress in a positive direction and attain greater freedom in the life choices they make.
Individuals are often unaware of many of the factors that determine their emotions and behaviour, these can be seen as blind spots in there awareness, that may be the source of considerable distress and unhappiness.
These can sometimes be in the form of recognisable symptoms and at other times as troubling personality traits, difficulties in work and/or in love relationships, or disturbances in mood and self-esteem. Because these forces are unconscious, the advice of friends and family, the reading of self-help books, or even the most determined efforts of will, often fail to provide relief.
Psychoanalytic treatment can reveal how unconscious factors affect current relationships and patterns of behaviour. It also can trace them back to their historical origins and show how they have changed and developed over time. This awareness can help the individual to deal better with the realities of adult life.
This is not just achieved by the insight of knowledge but through the process the analysand or patient undergoes in an analysis. In the course of intensive psychoanalytic treatment, the nature of the relationship which inevitably develops will have significant features deriving from the “internal world” of the patient and become available for experience and exploration by the patient and psychoanalyst together.
It will become possible to understand many of these aspects more deeply and to work upon making meaningful and desirable changes.
Source:
http://www.sapsychoanalysis.org
https://www.ipa.world
WHO WE ARE
A global community of thinkers, clinicians and curious minds.
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COORDINATOR & LEAD FACILITATOR
Michael Benn
Clinical Psychologist & IPA-Registered Psychoanalyst
Michael Benn is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the coordinator and lead facilitator of GRASP (Groups for the Reading and Study of Psychoanalysis) and the creator of Psychoanalytic Thinking.
For over three decades, Michael has been facilitating psychoanalytic spaces that bring together clinicians, thinkers, and leading voices to explore the intersection of psychoanalysis, culture and contemporary life.
WHAT WE EXPLORE
Trauma
Understanding its impact and meaning
Sexuality & Identity
Thinking about desire, gender and selfhood
Culture & Film
Psychoanalysis in art, film and storytelling
The Body
Embodiment, symptoms and experience
Race & Society
Exploring identity, power and social structures
Relationships
The unconscious in connection and intimacy
Politics & Ethics
Power, systems and the human condition
Masculinity
Exploring men, identity and culture
The goal is not only to understand ourselves, but the world we live in - and how we can live in it more consciously.
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