Clinical Seminar: A Psychoanalysis Begins
From preliminary interviews to orientating the treatment
When: 7 sessions from March 8, 2025 – June 14, 2025, Fortnightly Saturdays 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
Where: Room 2200 SFU Harbour Centre. Hybrid format.
Who: Facilitated by Dr. Hilda Fernandez-Alvarez, PhD, RCC.
Dates:
Mar 8 and 22,
Apr 12 and 26,
May 17 and 31, and
Jun 14
Registration here
Cost: $350 CDN – Fully employed, non-contingent workers
$250 CDN – $175 CDN – Sliding scale for students and contingent workers
Other Amount
Your contributions will fund the continuation of our programming.
Paypal to @hifeera@hotmail.com or email transfer to contact@hildafernandez.com
Argument:
Speaking about the beginning of treatment, Freud makes an analogy with the game of chess, indicating that psychoanalysis, like the rules of chess, are set at the opening of the treatment. What is involved at the beginning of the treatment?
In this seminar we will explore what conditions are necessary to start an analysis, considering that psychoanalysis, a long-term treatment, poses demands on both analyst and analysand. We will theoretically explore various aspects pertaining the beginning of treatment, such as the first contact, the preliminary interviews, the function and location of the analyst, the diagnosis layers, and the orientation of the treatment. We will discuss theoretical concepts through some clinical examples and will allow plenty of time for small groups workshopping ideas.
We will divide the sessions in the following way:
March 8 – Intro to the Seminar. Rules of privacy and engagement. A psychoanalysis requires an analyst. Location and function of the analyst.
March 22 – First contact and preliminary interviews. How does the analyst listen to the analysand’s speech?
April 12 – Diagnostic layers (subject, language, discourse, sexuation)
April 26 – Diagnostic layers (clinical structures and trans-structural phenomena)
May 17 – Orientating the treatment: compass towards a terra incognita (dialectical turns, transference, resistance, interpretation)
May 31 – Orientating the treatment: traps and horizon (ego and phallus; jouissance and desire)
June 14 – Moving towards an analysis that last, and towards an analysis that reaches a logical end.
Detailed syllabus upon accepted registration and payment.
This seminar will provide an in-depth study of the preliminary sessions in Lacanian psychoanalysis, addressing key concepts that shape the direction of treatment. It is a valuable opportunity for clinicians, students, and anyone interested in deepening their understanding of psychoanalysis.
Presented by the Lacan Salon and supported by the SFU Institute for the Humanities.
