Psychoanalysis +

 

An interdisciplinary initiative that brings together clinical, theoretical and artistic approaches to, and applications of, psychoanalysis

SoundCloud Channel

Introduction to Psychoanalysis

Listen to my talk ‘The Freud Affect’ which gives an introduction to psychoanalysis.

 

Description

Psychoanalysis + is an international, interdisciplinary initiative founded, developed and directed by Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and cultural theorist Dr Noreen Giffney. It foregrounds psychoanalysis as a clinical practice and a theoretical tool for tracing the unconscious dynamics underpinning occurrences in cultural, societal and political contexts. It also takes psychoanalysis itself as an object to be wondered about and questioned. It has a commitment to psychosocial and psychocultural work, and seeks to serve a bridging function between the clinic, the academic institution, and the arts and cultural sphere. Psychoanalysis + brings together individuals interested in clinical, theoretical and artistic approaches to, and applications of, psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis + points to the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of projects, publications and events forming part of the initiative. Psychoanalysis exists in an interdependent and mutually enriching relationship with the cultures and societies within which we as clinical and theoretical practitioners find ourselves. The ‘+’ in the title gestures towards the fact that psychoanalysis is always more than itself. In other words, psychoanalytic practitioners have always drawn on and incorporated insights from other clinical and non-clinical fields into our work, for example, literature, psychiatry, music, neuroscience, art, psychology, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, nursing, classics, social work, film, theatre and so on. Psychoanalysis is thus always, can only be, interdisciplinary. The space between ‘psychoanalysis’ and ‘+’ also recognises the gap needed for productive things to happen which cannot be known in advance. The ‘+’ also symbolises an openness to new possibilities and collaborations. My aim is to create a space where clinicians, artists and curators, academics and anyone interested in psychoanalysis can come together to have an experience together and to talk and reflect on that experience. Click HERE and HERE to read about the development of the Psychoanalysis + initiative.

Psychoanalysis + International Advisory Board: Nicole Murray, Chartered Psychologist, Student Counselling Service, Atlantic Technological University Donegal, Ireland

Invitation to Collaborate

I am interested in forming interdisciplinary collaborations (clinical, theoretical, artistic), especially collaborations that focus on bringing psychoanalysis into creative and productive dialogue with other disciplines and creative practices around psychosocial and psychocultural issues. Email: noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

 

NEW BOOK

The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic (Routledge 2021)

Order a Copy: https://www.routledge.com/The-Culture-Breast-in-Psychoanalysis-Cultural-Experiences-and-the-Clinic/Giffney/p/book/9781138312517 

Description: We are fed at the breast of culture, not wholly but to differing degrees. The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic focuses on the formative influence of cultural objects in our lives, and the contribution such experiences make to our mental health and overall wellbeing.

The book introduces “the culture-breast”, a new clinical concept, to explore the central importance played by cultural objects in the psychical lives of patients and psychoanalytic clinical practitioners inside and outside the consulting room. Bringing together clinical writings from psychoanalysis and cultural objects from the applied fields of film, art, literature and music, the book also makes an argument for the usefulness of encounters with cultural objects as “non-clinical case studies” in the training and further professional development of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Through its engagement with psychosocial studies, this text, furthermore, interrogates, challenges and offers a way through a hierarchical split that has become established in psychoanalysis between “clinical psychoanalysis” and “applied psychoanalysis”.

Combining approaches used in clinical, academic and arts settings, The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis is an essential resource for clinical practitioners of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, counselling, psychology and psychiatry. It will also be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychosocial studies, sociology, social work, cultural studies and the creative and performing arts.

Table of Contents: Series Editors’ Preface; Foreword by R.D. Hinshelwood; Preface: At the breast of culture; Chapter 1. Thinking clinically with the psychosocial; Chapter 2. Encounters with cultural objects as case study; Chapter 3. The culture-breast; Afterword: Experience and the no-breast.

Advance Praise: “A subtle, imaginative and brilliant work; The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis proposes an entirely new way of understanding the relationship between psychoanalysis and culture. It proposes that cultural experiences available through film, literature, music and the visual and performing arts can offer a frame, a space, and an encounter with an object, much like the ‘breast’ in early infantile life, so that we can, in a psychoanalytic sense, ‘learn from experience’. Arguing that cultural objects can provide forms of holding and containment of unbearable thoughts and feelings, allowing for the rawness of experience to be given meaning, Noreen Giffney’s profound insight helps us understand not just the transformational nature of these encounters but offers us the experience of reading the book itself as its most stunning case study. She argues with great poignancy, that we all feed at the culture-breast, and that understanding the way we psychically use cultural objects, whether as screen memories, as psychic retreats, or as containers, has the potential to open up new insights into the workings of our inner lives. This book will become a vital point of reference for those interested in psychosocial thinking; the creative and potentially transformational area of encounter between the clinic, psychoanalytic theory, politics, arts and culture”. – Lisa Baraitser, Professor of Psychosocial Theory, Birkbeck, University of London, and Psychoanalyst, M. Inst. Psychoanalysis

“It is an experiment in reaching between the heights of conceptualisations, on one hand, and the depths of personal experience on the other. It is this ‘reaching-between’ that we need to accomplish in a much more everyday way, as these reflections portray. We must be as well as have our experiences”. – From the Foreword by R.D. Hinshelwood, Psychoanalyst, and Professor Emeritus, University of Essex

Read a piece about the culture-breast as a new clinical concept in New Associations, the magazine of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Playful States of Mind: Monday 19 December 2022

Venue: Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre, Birkbeck, University of London, 43 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD

Description: A one-day experiential event about play, focusing on its psychological function and importance in our emotional lives. This event is informed by psychoanalytic and psychosocial theories of play, creativity and imagination.What do the terms ‘play’, ‘playing’ and ‘playfulness’ mean in different contexts? How might we understand play as both a doing and a being; an activity and a state of mind? In what ways might play be related to creativity and destructiveness? What kinds of feelings might be enacted, evoked or contained while engaging in moments of play? How do we play and what might we be communicating to ourselves and others, consciously and unconsciously, in our play and in the ways in which we play? Why is a capacity for play so important for our mental health and general wellbeing? How might psychoanalysis and psychosocial studies help us to reflect on our experiences of play? These questions will frame our event.

This event will offer a series of immersive experiences centred around play, to help us to reflect on and talk about our individual and collective encounters with play. The emphasis will be on experience, reflection and conversation. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and be prepared for an encounter with the unknown.

This event will be of interest to anyone interested in play, imagination and creativity. It will be of particular interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, group analysts, play therapists, arts therapists, social workers and social care workers, mental health workers, youth workers, artists, performers and curators, as well as academic researchers and students in the fields of psychosocial studies, cultural studies, and in the arts, humanities and social sciences more broadly.

Places are limited so early registration is advised. Participants are requested to register only if they are available to attend the whole day, as this event makes use of a group experience.

Reading Material: We will discuss the following two pieces in the afternoon, so please read them in advance and bring along copies with you:

  • Patricia Townsend, ‘Play and Playing’ in Creative States of Mind Psychoanalysis and the Artist’s Process (London and New York: Routledge 2019), pp. 59-67.
  • Lynn Froggett, ‘Deep Play and Simulation in Urban Space: Of Art and Video-Games’ in Deep Play and Simulation in Urban Space: Of Art and Video-Games (London: British Council 2018), pp. 16-35.
Organisers: Dr Noreen Giffney, Prof Lynn Froggett, Prof Candida Yates

Psychoanalysis and the Culture-Breast: January-March 2023

Venue: Freud Museum, London (online series of public discussions)

Description: We are fed at the breast of culture, not wholly but to differing degrees. A series of public conversations around our experiences with cultural objects, with a focus on our emotional and unconscious attachments to art, literature, music, and film.

What happens to us emotionally and unconsciously when we listen to a song, watch a film, encounter an art object, or read a novel? How might the way we engage with cultural experiences relate back to our earliest encounters with the breast or bottle as infants? How might our encounters with cultural objects be understood as a feeding experience that provides us with sustenance? What might our making of, encounters with, and uses of cultural objects tell us about ourselves?

Each session will focus on a discussion of a particular cultural object made by an invited guest, which attendees are requested to access and engage with either during or in advance of each session. Each session will begin with an informal conversation between psychoanalytic psychotherapist and psychosocial theorist Noreen Giffney and an invited guest from one of the applied fields of art, literature, music or film, before opening up the discussion to everyone in attendance. The invited guests are Jennifer Rubell (conceptual artist, New York), Sue Rainsford (fiction and arts writer, Dublin) and Amanda Coogan (performance artist and sign language interpreter, Belfast).

These sessions will invite attendees to enter into a shared experience with particular cultural objects, to facilitate individuals in the group thinking about their unique encounter with each object, but also to reflect on our experience with cultural objects in our lives more generally.

This series is open to anyone interested in why we react or attach to cultural objects in particular ways. It will be of particular interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, psychiatrists, group analysts, mental health workers and peer support workers, as well as artists and curators, and academic researchers and students in the fields of psychoanalytic studies, psychosocial studies, cultural studies, visual culture, and the arts and humanities more broadly.

This series is organised on the occasion of the publication of Noreen Giffney’s book, The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic (Routledge 2021), which introduces a new psychoanalytic concept, ‘the culture-breast’, to explore the formative and enduring influence of cultural objects and experiences in our lives.

Places are limited so early registration is advised. This event is organised around the idea of a shared experience and conversation, so attendance is necessary. These events will not be recorded.Series Schedule:

  • Saturday 28 January 2023 at 12 pm-2 pm UK time Jennifer Rubell (conceptual artist, New York). We will discuss a series of Jennifer Rubell’s artworks during the event
  • Saturday 25 February 2023 at 12 pm-2 pm UK time Sue Rainsford (fiction and arts writer, Dublin). We will discuss Sue Rainsford’s novel, Redder Days, as a group, so please read the novel in advance of the event
  • Saturday 25 March 2023 at 12 pm-2 pm UK time Amanda Coogan (performance artist and sign language interpreter). We will discuss a series of images of Amanda Coogan’s performances during the event
Organiser: Dr Noreen Giffney

PAST EVENTS

Film: In Session Course (Psychoanalysis & Film): 2013-2014

Venue: Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland
Description: This continuing professional development course provides a space in which to indulge our love of cinema in the context of psychoanalytic theory. For five months we will meet together to share the experience of watching a film before engaging in an informal discussion loosely focused around particular themes relevant to psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice: sex, protest, nourishment, pain and envy. This group is open to anyone with an interest in psychoanalysis and film. It will be of particular interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors, in addition to academics and postgraduate students who work on psychoanalytic theory and/or cultural studies. No previous knowledge of psychoanalytic theory or film studies is required.
Course Outline: Session 1 October 2013: Sex (Shame, dir. Steve McQueen, 2011); Session 2 November 2015: Protest ([Safe], dir. Todd Haynes, 1995); Session 3 January 2014 (Jiro Dreams of Sushi, dir. David Gelb, 2011); Session 4 February 2014: Pain (Tarnation, dir. Jonathan Caouette, 2003); Session 5 March 2014: Envy (La Nana [The Maid], dir. Sebastian Silva, 2009).
Convener and Facilitator: Dr Noreen Giffney
CPD: 15 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Screening Licence: A screening licence was obtained from the Motion Picture Licencing Corporation (MPLC).

Melancholia Symposium: Friday 7-Saturday 8 November 2014

Venue: National Museum of Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7, Ireland
Description: This two-day international, multidisciplinary seminar explores the topic of ‘melancholia’ from clinical, theoretical, film studies, and visual arts practice and curatorship perspectives. What does this term mean and how is it understood, worked with and represented in different contexts? We will be looking at how meanings for the term have developed over time and how contemporary understandings of ‘depression’, the ‘sublime’ and ‘affect’ have been used to think about experiences of melancholia. The programme includes a film screening, an art installation screening, an art performance, as well as a range of talks, responses and discussions with speakers specialising in the areas of clinical psychoanalysis/psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychology, visual arts practice and curatorship, and academic research fields, such as literary theory and criticism, philosophy, film studies, history, gender and sexuality studies, and art history and visual culture. The emphasis will be on discussion.
Speakers and artists included: Mary Pyle, Dr Moynagh Sullivan, Dr Olga Cox-Cameron, Isabel Nolan, Dr Anne Mulhall, Professor Caroline Bainbridge, Professor Judy Gammelgaard, Dr Bice Benvenuto, Dr Noreen Giffney, Dr Tina Kinsella, Ann Murphy, Dr Medb Ruane, Dr Emma Radley, Marie Walshe, Lisa Moran, Cecily Brennan, Dr Amanda Coogan, Ann-Marie Delaney, Dr Eve Watson, Frances O’Dwyer.
Organisers: Dr Noreen Giffney, Dr Tina Kinsella, Dr Anne Mulhall, Dr Emma Radley, Dr Eve Watson.
Funded by the Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, and  co-sponsored by the Irish Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IIPP), the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP), and the Association for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI).
CPD: 15 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Podcasts: Podcasts of some of the sessions are available to download here (Podcasting by Mike Liffey at Real Smart Media).

Conducting Psychoanalytic Research for Publication Workshop: Saturday 21 February 2015

Venue: Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Description: This workshop will introduce participants to how to conduct psychoanalytic research for publication. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts/psychoanalytic psychotherapists with publishing experience or with an interest in beginning to write for publication, as well as academic researchers and PhD students with an interest in psychoanalysis. What makes research publishable, and how might you go about finding a suitable publisher, journal or editor to publish your writing? Have you written a dissertation as part of your clinical training and wonder how to turn it into an article? Do you think you could draw on your clinical work for publication, but are unsure of how to begin? Are you working clinically and interested in becoming involved in conducting psychoanalytic research, but have little or no publishing experience so feel apprehensive at the prospect? Are you an academic researcher or PhD student and wish to interact with psychoanalytic clinical practitioners to talk about your psychoanalytic research? The workshop will include ten psychoanalysts/psychoanalytic psychotherapists, all of whom work clinically and who have extensive experience in publishing and/or editing psychoanalytic research. They represent a number of different traditions of psychoanalysis, including Freudian, Kleinian, Lacanian, Jungian, Independent and object relations. The workshop comprises two panels, followed by time for questions and discussion. Speakers on the first panel will discuss their experiences of writing for peer-reviewed journals, for related clinical disciplines such as psychology and psychiatry, for print and online media, as well as the process by which delegates might transform the research they are conducting into a journal article. The participants on the second panel will discuss writing monographs and how delegates might pitch a book project to a publisher. Following the speakers’ presentations, there will be ample time for discussion and questions specific to participants’ own research interests.
Speakers included: Dr Margaret Boyle Spelman, Joanne Conway, Joanna Fortune, Dr Noreen Giffney, Dr Ian Miller, Professor Toni O’Brien Johnson, Dr Carol Owens, Dr Medb Ruane, Florencia F.C. Shanahan, Professor Ross M. Skelton, Rob Weatherill.
Organiser: Dr Noreen Giffney
Funded by the Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, and  co-sponsored by the Irish Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IIPP) and the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP).
CPD: 4 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Podcasts: Podcasts of the talks are available to download here (Podcasting by Mike Liffey at Real Smart Media).
Articles: Articles on the usefulness of the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion’s work for psychotherapists, written by Dr Noreen Giffney, appeared in the clinical journals, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Routledge) in 2013, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis (Palgrave Macmillan) in 2013, and Studies in Gender and Sexuality (Routledge) in 2016. Copies available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

The Clinical Usefulness of Wilfred Bion’s Writings for Psychotherapists Workshop: Tuesday 12 May 2015

Venue: 43 Gordon Square, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
Description: This clinical workshop was organised in collaboration with the MSc in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and the MSc in Child and Adolescent Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, and for trainee psychodynamic psychotherapists at Birkbeck, University of London. The workshop was divided into two sessions: In Session 1: Theoretical Application, I  provided an introduction to the importance of the experience of reading Wilfred Bion’s work for becoming more aware of our countertransference during the session, including its usefulness for thinking about how, when and why we make interpretations to patients. I explored how it is through a visceral, uncomfortable engagement with our reactions to the difficulty of reading his writings that clinical practitioners will develop and enlarge our capacity for containment. Session 2: Clinical Application used the film Shame as a case study. The session began with five short, clinical responses to the film from practising psychotherapists, before opening up the discussion more broadly to participants in the workshop. The focus was on how we might use Bion’s work to help us to think about the male and female protagonists in the film, as well as our own thoughts and feelings while watching it.
Convener: Dr Noreen Giffney, in collaboration with the MSc in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and the MSc in Child and Adolescent Psychodynamic Psychotherapy at Birkbeck, University of London.
Speakers included: 
Dr Noreen Giffney, Viviane Green, Louise Phillips, David Richards, Dr Laurence Spurling, Nina Tebartz.
Articles: Articles on the film Shame, written by Dr Noreen Giffney, Dr Olga Cox Cameron, Joanna Fortune, Professor Judy Gammelgaard and Dr Adam Blum, appeared in the psychoanalytic clinical/theoretical journal, Studies in Gender and Sexuality 16.2 (Routledge) in 2015. Copies available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

Affect and Melanie Klein Seminar: Saturday 19 September 2015

Venue: Affect: Memory, Aesthetics and Ethics Conference, Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg, Canada
Description: This seminar focused on psychoanalysis and affect. It provided and introduction to Kleinian psychoanalysis and an opportunity to discuss two key clinical concepts in the writings of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein: the paranoid-schizoid position (p-s) and the depressive position (d), and how affect functions within and between them. These are terms used by Klein to describe unconscious psychical states characterised by persecutory (p-s) and depressive (d) anxieties, and the defence mechanisms employed by the mind to protect against becoming overwhelmed by anxiety. The paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions refer to dynamic states of mind, and are concepts used by psychoanalysts to facilitate a space for thinking about how a person might be experiencing the analyst and more generally the world around them at specific moments in time.
Speaker: Dr Noreen Giffney
Convener: Dr Noreen Giffney, in collaboration with Affect: Memory, Aesthetics and Ethics Conference.

Cinematic Encounters with Violent Trauma and Its Aftermath Symposium: A Public Screening and Discussion of The Act of Killing (2012): Saturday 20 February 2016

Venue: Paccar Theatre, Science Gallery Dublin, The Naughton Institute, Pearse Street, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland (This event was organised in association with Science Gallery Dublin’s TRAUMA exhibition)
Description: Mass violence. Genocide. Pogrom. Human rights abuses. Ethnic cleansing. Holocaust. State-sanctioned terror. These are all terms we associate with acute trauma, and are devastating for the communities who live through them and in their aftermath. We hear reports of mass violence from a multitude of geographical locations with depressing frequency. There are countless stories of people being killed, tortured, raped, beaten and imprisoned in state-sanctioned acts of violence. We see photographs and videos, with increasing regularity, of thousands of people fleeing for their lives to escape from regimes that have made it impossible for them to live safely in their own lands. Perpetrators are labelled monstrous, evil, mad, psychopathic, in an effort to explain why such horrendous acts have occurred. Keeping in mind the theme of Science Gallery Dublin’s current exhibition, this symposium takes as its subject, violent TRAUMA and its aftermath, its cinematic representations, and the emotional response of viewers when watching such representations. This symposium begins with a screening of The Act of Killing (2012), followed by short responses by professionals working in clinical, creative arts, and academic fields of expertise. Speakers’ responses will be grouped under three headings: (1) The Unconscious Dynamics of Trauma, (2) Living in the Aftermath of Trauma, and (3) The Aesthetics of Representing Trauma. Each respondent will have five minutes in which to make one of two brief points to facilitate us beginning to think about the multi-dimensional aspects and impact of this film. There will be ample time for audience participation during the discussion period. This symposium hinges on three main questions, though we expect that many more will emerge for us throughout the day: (1) What long-term psychological impact does mass violence have on its victims? (2) How does an engagement with victims and perpetrators of mass violence affect those who are involved in such work? (3) How might we reflect on our experience of watching films documenting unsettling, sinister, and upsetting experiences? Warning: Admittance is strictly for persons aged 18 years and older because of The Act of Killing’s disturbing content. The film contains scenes of, and references to, extreme violence, which viewers might find upsetting. People who have experienced acute trauma may need to reflect on whether to attend this event, given the subject matter of the film. Viewers who have been affected by sexual, physical, emotional or psychological acts of abuse will find a list of support services in the event brochure.
Speakers included: Dr Olga Cox-Cameron, Mary Fakher-Eldin, Joanna Fortune, Dr Noreen Giffney, Janet Healy, Dr Tina Kinsella, Jacinta Lynch, Ann Murphy, Kevin Murphy, Gavin Wilkinson.
Organiser: Dr Noreen Giffney, in association with the IFPP’s Trauma Working Group, the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP) and Science Gallery Dublin.
Sponsored by the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP) and Science Gallery Dublin.
CPD: 5 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Podcasts: Podcasts of the opening remarks and responses are available at https://soundcloud.com/psychoanalytic-clinic (Podcasting by Mike Liffey at Real Smart Media).

Art & Psychoanalysis & Sexuality Symposium: Wednesday 22 June 2016

Title: Sexuality, Identity and the State Symposium
Venue:
Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland (This event was organised by Sophie Byrne, IMMA’s Curator of Talks and Public Programmes, in collaboration with Dr Noreen Giffney)
Description: The Sexuality, Identity and the State Symposium is organised on the occasion of Patrick Hennessy’s ‘De Profundis’ and Carol Rama’s ‘The Passion According to Carol Rama’ exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). The interdisciplinary symposium offers short talks by professionals working in the fields of clinical practice, academic research and the visual arts: psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, clinical and social psychology, creative arts practice and curatorship, feminism and queer theory, literary studies and film studies, the history of art and arts criticism. The symposium comprises two parts: a panel of talks introducing and contextualising the life and work of Patrick Hennessy, and a roundtable discussion concentrating on art objects and interpretative strategies from the theoretical perspectives of psychoanalysis, feminism and queer theory. The roundtable broadens out the discussion to include Rama alongside Hennessy. The focus will be on the relation between the viewer and the art object, how we make meaning of our experience of engaging with an art work, and how that experience is mediated through the framing of an exhibition (by a curator in their arrangement of the works, by reviewers, by essayists who write in the catalogue, by the signs on the walls of the gallery, by the titles the artist ascribes to the paintings, by what friends say about an exhibition before we have visited it ourselves). We will focus on acts of interpretation, how they come into being, and how we might formulate and articulate our interpretations of art works in ways that don’t close down dialogue about a work’s potential meanings. Discussants will attend to how theoretical concepts might help us to open up a space for thinking about the art works we see before us in the Hennessy and Rama exhibitions specifically and about artistic practices and art objects more generally.
Speakers included: Dr Noreen Giffney, Sean Kissane, Dr Riann Coulter, Dr Eibhear Walshe, Dr Katherine Johnson, Dr Jason Hartford, Ann Murphy, Dr Olga Cox-Cameron, Jacinta Lynch, James Merrigan.
Organisers: Sophie Byrne, IMMA’s Curator of Talks and Public Programmes, in collaboration with Dr Noreen Giffney, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Convener of Psychoanalysis +.
Funded and Presented by The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).
CPD: 5.5 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Podcasts: Podcasts of the opening remarks and talks are available at: https://soundcloud.com/imma-ireland/sets/imma-symposium-sexuality (Podcasting by IMMA)
Article: Dr Noreen Giffney wrote the Introduction to the clinical book, Clinical Encounters in Sexuality (Punctum Books 2017), which she co-edited with Dr Eve Watson. A copy is available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

The Clinical Usefulness of Non-Clinical Case Studies for Psychotherapy Lecture: Sunday 12 October 2016

Venue: Tinakilly House Hotel, Rathnew, County Wicklow, Ireland
Description: Clinical case studies, vignettes and process notes are central in the clinical training and ongoing professional development of practising psychotherapists. One or other of these might appear in books or articles or be brought to the teaching situation by the clinical lecturer or trainee or the supervisory meeting by the supervisee or supervisor. This workshop explores the clinical usefulness of incorporating non-clinical case studies and vignettes into the clinical training and further professional development training of psychotherapists. I will focus on case studies drawn from visual culture, particularly film but also creative arts practice. I will attend to the ways in which non-clinical case studies can facilitate us becoming more aware of our countertransference experience during the session, including its usefulness for thinking about how, when and why we make interventions with clients. We will also think about the usefulness of visual culture texts as a way to explain and illustrate clinical concepts to trainees, as well as how they can provide a starting point for discussions with psychotherapists on clinical themes before broadening and deepening the conversation. Above all, visual culture texts offer each of us an opportunity to be with our own thoughts and feelings while watching a film or visiting an exhibition, after which we can tease out the intricacies of our individual and collective thoughts and feelings as a group. We will discuss the following texts from visual culture: Undressing My Mother (2004), artist Cecily Brennan’s installation, Melancholia (2005), The World’s End (2013) and Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (2012), a documentary about a performance artist’s live performance in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The emphasis in the workshop will be on discussion.
Convener: Dr Noreen Giffney
This workshop formed part of: The 5th Irish Poetry Therapy Network (IPTN) Conference. I am grateful to the organisers for inviting me to deliver this workshop as a keynote address to Conference delegates.
CPD: 2 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Interview: ‘Psychoanalysis in Ireland’, an interview with Dr Noreen Giffney, was published in Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies 7 (University of Notre Dame 2017), as part of a special issue on ‘Ireland in Psychoanalysis’. Click HERE to read the interview.

The Artist/Analyst Is Present: At the Interface between Creative Arts Practice and Clinical Psychoanalytic Practice Panel Discussion: Saturday 4 February 2017

Venue: The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland (This panel discussion formed part of the 8th annual Irish Psychoanalytic Film Festival)
Description: The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York exhibited a major retrospective of the performance artist Marina Abramovićs work from 14 March to 31 May 2010. As part of the exhibition, The Artist is Present, Abramović performed a long-durational piece which involved her sitting in the gallery space every day the gallery was open, from the time it opened until the time it closed. Gallery visitors were invited to sit across from her in silence while she held their gaze. She sat with people for over 700 hours. At first Abramović and each visitor were separated by a small table, which she later had removed so that there was only a short space between her and the person who sat across from her. Long queues formed as time went on, and many who sat in front of the artist were visibly moved to tears in her presence. The performance space also filled up with people who came and watched the silent interactions between the artist and each visitor. The Artist Is Present documentary film provides an overview of the MOMA retrospective as well as an introduction to Abramovićs body of work which spans nearly five decades.

What was happening in the silent interaction between artist and visitor to produce such a profound impact on those who sat and those who watched from the sidelines? What does it mean to say the artist is present? What is the place of the gaze in this performance? How does silence function in this piece? What is the relationship between the seated pair and the group that forms around them? How might psychoanalysis help us to think about these questions and also to reflect on our own relationship as viewers to this documentary film and to the portrait it presents of Abramović as artist? How might it inform our clinical practice? The performance itself also brings to mind the analytic frame, the analytic attitude and the analyst’s capacity to sit with an analysand for the duration of a session. The centrality of the gaze in the performance also prompts us to think of the place of the gaze in psychoanalysis, offered to the analysand by the analyst at the beginning and ending of sessions but denied to both parties when the analysand lies on the couch and the analyst sits behind, out of sight.

This session provides space for a dialogue between the creative arts and clinical psychoanalysis, focusing particularly on what artists, curators, art critics and analysts might learn from each other’s understanding of Abramović’s art practice. The session opens with a screening of The Artist Is Present documentary, followed by brief responses (5 minutes each) from an interdisciplinary panel of speakers, after which we will have time for a discussion about the audience’s response to the documentary and Abramović’s work as it is presented to us. The panel brings together people from the creative arts, curatorship, arts criticism, philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychology, art therapy, visual culture and film studies. The purpose of the responses is to open up a space for each of us to reflect on our experience of watching the documentary, the reactions it provokes in us, and why a capacity for self-reflection is so vital for creative arts practice and clinical psychoanalytic practice.
Speakers included: Gráinne Casey, Dr Noreen Giffney, Jacinta Lynch, Lisa Moran, Katherine Waugh.
Convener: Dr Noreen Giffney
This panel discussion formed part of: The 8th annual Irish Psychoanalytic Film Festival. The Festival was sponsored by the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP) and the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI). I am grateful to the organisers of the Festival for including this panel discussion on the programme for the Festival.
CPD: The 8th Irish Annual Psychoanalytic Film Festival gave CPD points to attendees.

Developing Clinical Insight Using Non-Clinical Case Studies in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Lecture: Visual Culture and the Transference and Countertransference Experience: Saturday 22 April 2017

Time: 12.30 pm-2.00 pm
Venue:
 The Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square West, Dublin 1, Ireland
Description: Clinical case studies, vignettes and process notes are central in the clinical training and ongoing professional development training of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. One or other of these might appear in books or articles or be brought to the teaching situation by the clinical lecturer or trainee or the supervisory meeting by the supervisee or supervisor. This clinical seminar explores the clinical usefulness of incorporating non-clinical case studies and vignettes into the clinical training and further professional development training of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. I use the term ‘non-clinical case study’ to refer to films, art objects or performances, pieces of music, and short stories or novels or plays. I will focus on case studies drawn from visual culture, particularly film but also visual arts practice. I have used films in my teaching since 2002. I have included visual culture texts in modules I have convened as an academic lecturer, in personal development courses with groups in community settings, and as part of clinical trainings and CPD events for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and other mental healthcare professionals. This clinical seminar arises from a book I am writing on this topic. This clinical seminar will attend to the ways in which non-clinical case studies might facilitate us becoming more receptive to patients’ transferences and more aware of our countertransference experience during the session, including its usefulness for thinking about how, when and why we make interpretations to patients. We will also think about how visual culture texts can help us to explain and illustrate clinical concepts to trainees, as well as how they can provide a starting point for discussions with experienced psychoanalysts and psychotherapists on clinical themes before broadening and deepening the conversation. Above all, visual culture texts offer each of us an opportunity to be with our own thoughts and feelings while watching a film or visiting an art exhibition, after which we can tease out the intricacies of this experience in order to hone our receptivity, reflectivity and interpretative skills for our work in the consulting room. We will consider Undressing My Mother (2004), artist Cecily Brennan’s installation, Melancholia (2005), and The World’s End (2013). The emphasis in this clinical seminar will be on discussion.
Convener: Dr Noreen Giffney
This clinical seminar follows: The Annual General Meeting of the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP). I am grateful to the Executive Committee of the IFPP for inviting me talk about my work.
CPD: 1.5 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Registration: Attendance was open to members of the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP) only.
Interview: ‘Psychoanalysis in Ireland’, an interview with Dr Noreen Giffney, was published in Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies 7 (University of Notre Dame 2017), as part of a special issue on ‘Ireland in Psychoanalysis’. Click HERE to read the interview.

Splitting, Projection & Evacuation in Clinical Practice Lecture: Saturday 10 June 2017

Venue: Tavistock Centre, Belsize Lane, London, UK
Description: Splitting and projection occur when the ability for thinking thoughts breaks down. Patients who rely on these defences usually have limited capacity to symbolise and act out their experiences in ways that might be alarming for the therapist. Evacuating overwhelming experiences leaves the client feeling drained and empty. Therapists react by containing projections and are confused when patients terminate treatment abruptly. Early termination is often part of the repetition compulsion enacted by these patients, who continuously split, project and evacuate perceived-to-be bad parts of themselves. This includes the therapist who becomes, unconsciously, a narcissistic extension of the patient.
This talk forms part of: Working with Splitting and Projecting Clinical Conference, which was organised by CONFER: Seminars, Conferences and Online Resources for Psychotherapists
CPD: CPD certificates were awarded by CONFER.
Registration:www.confer.uk.com/splitting.html
Article: Dr Noreen Giffney wrote an article entitled ‘Sex as Evacuation’, which is published in the psychoanalytic journal, Studies in Gender & Sexuality, A copy is available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

Psychoanalysis & Sexuality Today Clinical Conference: Psychosocial Influences on Transference & Countertransference in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy: Saturday 21 October 2017

Time: 9.00 am-5.15 pm
Venue:
Irish Museum of Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7, Ireland
Description: This clinical conference considers a range of issues relating to sexuality, as it exists in our consulting rooms today, from a clinical psychoanalytic perspective. The conference brings together clinical practitioners of psychoanalysis from a number of different traditions (Freudian, Kleinian, Lacanian, Jungian, Relational), who work in a range of settings (private practices, public services, training organisations), and in a variety of ways (with adults and/or children and adolescents, individuals, couples and groups). Speakers come from all the clinical psychoanalytic organisations operating in the South and North of Ireland: the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP), the Association for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI), the Irish Analytical Psychology Association (IAPA), the Irish Forum for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFCAPP), the Irish Group Analytic Society (IGAS), the Northern Ireland Institute for Human Relations (NIIHR), the Irish Psycho-Analytic Association (IPAA), the Irish School for Lacanian Psychoanalysis (ISLP), the Irish Circle of the Lacanian Orientation-New Lacanian School (ICLO-NLS), the Northern Ireland Association for the Study of Psychoanalysis (NIASP), and the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), and from a number of different traditions of psychoanalysis. This is the first time all of the psychoanalytic organisations on the island of Ireland have been invited to enter into dialogue about a topic of central importance to clinical practice. This conference will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses. This is because adapted forms of psychoanalytic clinical concepts underpin most forms of psychotherapy and counselling, as the ideas of some of the discipline’s formative figures (Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Jacques Lacan, Donald Winnicott, Anna Freud, Siegmund Heinrich Fuchs) operate as reference points for later developments, innovations, challenges and critiques. The emphasis in this conference will be on the sharing of ideas and discussion.

The conference focused on exploring five key questions:

  • What are the discourses of sexuality underpinning psychoanalysis, and how do they impact on clinical practice?
  • In what ways does sexuality get played out for and between the psychoanalytic practitioner and the patient?
  • How do social, cultural and historical attitudes towards sexuality impact on the transference, consciously and unconsciously?
  • How do social, cultural and historical attitudes towards sexuality impact on the countertransference, consciously and unconsciously?
  • Why is sexuality so prone to reification?

Speakers included: Julie Brown, Gráinne Casey, José Castilho, Barbara Fitzgerald, Dr Noreen Giffney, Dr Belinda Moller, Dr Ian Miller, Ann Murphy, Pauline O’Callaghan, Dr Barry O’Donnell, Dr Ray O’Neill, Dr Medb Ruane, Florencia Shanahan, David Smith, Dr Julie Sutton, Dr Eve Watson, Rob Weatherill.
Organisers: Dr Noreen Giffney & Dr Eve Watson
Download the brochure here
Sponsored by Psychoanalysis +, directed by Dr Noreen Giffney, and the Association for Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI)
CPD: 6.5 CPD points were awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Registration: Registration was open to Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Clinical and Counselling Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Nurses and General Practitioners (GPs). People must be fully-qualified and practising or retired or in training. This conference was open to clinical practitioners only. 
Article:
Dr Noreen Giffney wrote the Introduction to the clinical book, Clinical Encounters in Sexuality (Punctum Books 2016), which she co-edited with Dr Eve Watson. A copy is also available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Now Clinical Conference: The Inner World and Rebuilding the State We’re In: Saturday 4 November 2017

Venue: Imperial College, London, UK
Description: I was invited to speak at a clinical workshop on ‘Contemporary Developments in Sexuality and Gender and their Impact on the Consulting Room’. The workshop opened up a discussion about the ways in which social, cultural and historical attitudes towards sexuality can impact on the therapeutic relationship both consciously and unconsciously. The other speaker was Mr David Richards and the workshop was chaired by Ms Juliet Newbigin.
The Conference was convened by: The British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), in association with the Institute of Psychoanalysis in London
CPD: CPD certificates were awarded by the BPC.
Further details: www.bpc.org.uk/PP-NOW-2017
Video: The session was filmed by Psychotherapy Excellence. It is available for a fee from the company’s website.

Why Might Ruptures Occur in the Therapeutic Relationship? The Impact of Splitting and Projection on the Transference-Countertransference Dynamic: Saturday 20 January 2018

Time: 9.30 am-5.00 pm
Venue: Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Description: In order to explore why ruptures might occur between the therapist and the client, this talk considers the unconscious dynamics underpinning the therapeutic relationship: transference and countertransference. Therapeutic ruptures often happen when clients feel under attack by hateful or threatening objects. These objects, parts of the client they believe to be hateful or threatening, are split off and projected outwards onto other people in the client’s life and, in time, the therapist. Splitting and projection are psychical defences used to protect against experiencing persecutory anxiety and occur when the ability for thinking thoughts breaks down. Clients who rely on these defences usually have limited capacity to symbolise and so act out their experiences in ways that might be alarming for the therapist. Therapists react by containing projections and are confused when clients terminate treatment abruptly. Early termination is often part of the repetition compulsion enacted by these clients, who continuously split, project and evacuate perceived-to-be bad parts of themselves. This includes the therapist who becomes, unconsciously, a narcissistic extension of the client.
This talk formed part of: Hate, Threat and Unease in the Consulting Room: Working Creatively with Rupture in the Therapeutic Relationship Clinical Conference, organised by CONFER: Seminars, Conferences and Online Resources for Psychotherapists. Other clinical speakers are: Dr Ian Miller, Ms Ann Murphy, Ms Berna O’Brien.
CPD: CPD certificates were awarded by CONFER.
Registration was via CONFER

The Freud Affect: Reflecting on Viewers’ Experience of the Lucian Freud Exhibition: Wednesday 24 January 2018

Time: 7.00 pm-8.00 pm
Venue:
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland
Description: When we visit an exhibition, we encounter a series of artworks made by an artist and presented to us by a curator. We are offered an experience. How we engage with that experience can tell us as much, if not more, about ourselves as it might about the artist. What was your experience of visiting the Lucian Freud exhibition? Which room did you visit first? Did you spend more time with certain works? Can you remember any of the thoughts you were having as you moved around the gallery space? This talk explores how psychoanalysis might help us to reflect on our affective response to the exhibition, particularly how our gut reactions to Freud’s works might tell us something about the otherwise unconscious, inarticulable aspects of our mind. I will refer to the work of artists and filmmakers to contextualise my remarks on Freud: Mark Gerald, Alexa Wright, Ken Wardrop and Marina Abramović.
This talk formed part of: The Lucian Freud Lecture Series, convened by the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and the Irish Art Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin (TRIARC). This lecture series is part of a series of events forming part of the IMMA Collection: Freud Project 2016-2021.
CPD:  1 CPD point was awarded by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
Registration was via IMMA
Podcast: Listen to the podcast of ‘The Freud Affect’ here

What Might Clinical Psychoanalysis Learn from Queer Theories of Sexuality? 113 Years after Freud’s ‘Three Essays’: Saturday 24 February 2018

Time: 9.00 am-5.30 pm
Venue:
The Freud Museum, London, UK
Description: This one-day, international, multidisciplinary seminar will bring together psychoanalytic clinicians, artists and academic researchers to consider the enduring influence of Sigmund Freud’s ‘Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality’ on contemporary clinical and societal understandings of sexuality. The seminar will also discuss what queer theories of sexuality might bring to clinical psychoanalysis for work in the consulting room. The emphasis will be on discussion and the sharing of ideas between delegates.

The seminar will focus on the following three questions:

  1. What is the influence of Sigmund Freud’s ‘Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality’ on contemporary clinical psychoanalytic practice and psychosocial considerations of sexuality?
  2. What might clinical psychoanalysis learn from queer theories of sexuality?
  3. What do we mean when we speak of ‘experience’ and ‘encounter’ within the context of practice and theory?

Speakers include: There are fifteen invited speakers who work in clinical practice and/or visual arts practice and/or academia.

  • Professor Lisa Baraitser (Professor of Psychosocial Theory at Birkbeck, University of London, & Joint Principal Investigator for ‘Waiting Times’, a Wellcome Collaborative Award in Medical Humanities);
  • Dr Meg-John Barker (Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the Open University, Psychotherapist, & Academic-Activist);
  • Professor Caroline Bainbridge (Professor of Psychoanalysis & Culture at Roehampton University, & Psychoanalytic Organisational Consultant);
  • Ms Karla Black (Turner Prize-nominated Visual Artist, & sculpture There Can Be No Arguments is the cover image for Clinical Encounters in Sexuality);
  • Dr Olga Cox Cameron (Psychoanalyst, & Founder of the Irish Psychoanalytic Film Festival);
  • Dr Noreen Giffney (Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Director of Psychoanalysis +, & Lecturer in Counselling at the University of Ulster);
  • Ms Ann Murphy (Clinical Psychologist, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Former Director of the MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Trinity College Dublin, & Visual Artist);
  • Dr Ona Nierenberg (Psychoanalyst, & Senior Psychologist at Bellevue Hospital Center, New York);
  • Mr David Richards (Psychodynamic Psychotherapist, & Executive Committee, British Psychoanalytic Council);
  • Professor Sasha Roseneil (Professor & Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Essex, & Group Analyst);
  • Dr Raluca Soreanu (Wellcome Trust Fellow in Medical Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London, & Psychoanalyst);
  • Dr Fintan Walsh (Reader in Theatre & Performance, & Co-Director of the Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre at Birkbeck, University of London);
  • Dr Eve Watson (Psychoanalytic Practitioner, Clinical Supervisor, & Editor of Lacunae).

Download the brochure here
Organisers:
Dr Noreen Giffney & Dr Eve Watson, in collaboration with Mr Ivan Ward (Deputy Director of the Freud Museum, London).
Sponsored by The Freud Museum, London; Psychoanalysis + directed by Dr Noreen Giffney; the Centre for Media Research at Ulster University; and the College of Psychoanalysts – UK.
CPD: The Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) awarded the event 6.5 CPD points.
Podcasts: Podcasts of the opening remarks and responses are available as part of the Freud Museum’s podcast series.
Article:
Dr Noreen Giffney wrote the Introduction to the clinical book, Clinical Encounters in Sexuality (Punctum Books 2017), which she co-edited with Dr Eve Watson. A copy is also available from noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

Clinical Psychoanalysis & Queer Theory: Between Theory & Practice: Tuesday 22 May 2018-Wednesday 23 May 2018

Venue: University of Manchester, UK
Description: There was two events: one on Tuesday 22 May and a second event on Wednesday 23 May. On Tuesday 22 May at 5.30 pm-7.00 pm, Dr Eve Watson and I were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about our book, Clinical Encounters in Sexuality, with Dr Daniel Anderson (psychiatrist, psychodynamic psychotherapist, group analyst, Lecturer in Counselling & Psychotherapy at the University of Central Lancashire), Dr Suryia Nayak (psychoanalytic psychotherapist, social worker, & Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Salford) & Professor Ian Parker (psychoanalyst, psychologist, & Emeritus Professor of Management at the University of Leicester). This is a public event and is open to anyone interested in attending. On Wednesday 23 May at 10.00 am-11.30 am, Dr Eve Watson and I were invited to participate in a conversation about our book, Clinical Encounters in Sexuality, with Dr Monica Pearl (Lecturer in Twentieth-Century American Literature at the University of Manchester) and Professor Daniela Caselli (Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Manchester). This event is open to delegates of the Sexuality Summer School only.

Unconscious Objects: A Series of Conversations around Art & Psychoanalysis: October 2018-March 2019

Venue: IMMA – The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland
Description: This interdisciplinary programme of five sessions brought together art and clinical psychoanalysis, in an effort to consider what they might have to offer each other: both fields emphasise experience, encounter and creativity. Each session focused on a different theme: art & psychoanalysis, objects, spaces, practices, and encounters. The group met in IMMA on Saturdays for three hours (10.00-13.00) from October 2018-March 2019.

The initial session provided an opportunity for the group to begin thinking together about art and psychoanalysis. Sessions two to five were programmed alongside exhibitions showing at IMMA to facilitate a sustained engagement with the work of particular artists and curators. Sessions two to five began with an hour-long visit to a different exhibition each time. The exhibitions included work by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (November), Mary Swanzy (January), Wolfgang Tillmans (February), and IMMA Collection: Freud Project, Gaze (March). After a tea and coffee break, the session continued with a ninety-minute discussion of the exhibition together with two or three articles on the theme of the session, which group members were sent in advance.

The Unconscious Objects series was developed by Dr Noreen Giffney at the invitation of, and in discussion with, Lisa Moran. Each session was co-facilitated by Dr Noreen Giffney (Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, and Lecturer in Counselling at Ulster University) and Lisa Moran (Curator of Engagement and Learning at IMMA).
Download the brochure here
CPD: The Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) awarded the series 15 CPD points.
Podcast: Listen to the podcast of ‘The Freud Affect’ here, in which I give an introduction to psychoanalysis and its usefulness for helping us to reflect on our experience of visiting art exhibitions.

Psychodynamic Approaches: Tuesday 24 March 2020-Tuesday 5 May 2020

Time: 2.15 pm-5.15 pm
Venue:
This CPD course was delivered online on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description: What does it mean to say we live in the external world at the same time that we are living in our own internal worlds? What does infancy have to do with the therapeutic frame? What goes on in the therapeutic relationship outside of conscious awareness and why is it important? Why do clients repeat patterns even when they try not to? Why do clients present for therapy and then often resist the therapist’s attempts to treat them? How do therapists work with clients to expand their capacity to experience life more fully? How might psychodynamic therapy help us to approach these questions? This CPD course provides an introduction to psychoanalytic theories underpinning psychodynamic approaches, focusing particularly on the Kleinian tradition of psychoanalysis. The course also facilitates participants developing their observation and analytical skills, as well as their capacity for self-awareness, self-reflectivity and insight. The course is open to psychotherapists, as well as practitioners in a range of other fields, e.g. counselling, social work, nursing, medicine, teaching, business, community work, health and social care. The course, moreover, offers participants an opportunity to apply some of the concepts and skills they are learning to practice, when they write a detailed case study upon the conclusion of the module. In addition, the course This CPD course offers people interested in the possibility of training as psychoanalytic or psychodynamic therapists an introduction to the field. It also offers psychotherapists in other modalities, as well as professionals in other fields, an insight into the usefulness of psychoanalytic thinking for their work.
This CPD course formed part of: MSc Counselling Studies and Health Communication at Ulster University, Jordanstown Campus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
CPD:  Attendees were awarded 15 CPD points by the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).

Podcast: Listen to the podcast of ‘The Freud Affect’ here, in which I give an introduction to psychoanalysis and its usefulness for helping us to reflect on our experience of the world around us.

Psychoanalysis and the Psychosocial Discussion Group: January-May 2022

Venue: Online
Description: This interdisciplinary series of five discussions brought together psychoanalysis and psychosocial studies to help us to reflect on our experiences with the arts and culture. As a clinical practice, the focus of psychoanalysis is on the unconscious: aspects of experience that lie outside awareness or that are held by the person, often unbeknownst to them, in their bodies, in behavioural repetitions or in relational dynamics – all of which might present as symptoms. Psychoanalysis is also a theoretical approach for thinking about culture and society. This series brought psychoanalysis into dialogue with psychosocial studies to foreground the inter-relation between the unconscious and the social and cultural contexts in which we live and make our lives. The particular emphasis in the series was on giving time to discuss what happens to us emotionally and unconsciously when we encounter a cultural object. For example, what happens within us as individuals and between us as groups of people when we watch a film, read a novel, listen to a piece of music, or encounter an art object? How might psychoanalytic theories of play enable us to think about our involvement in psychological processes and acts of creativity? How do arts and cultural spaces facilitate (or not) us getting in touch with experiences we are having in the here and now?
Series Outline: Session 1 January 2022 Thinking Clinically with the Psychosocial (paper by Noreen Giffney); Session 2 February 2022 Post-Traumatic Attachments to the Eerily Moving Image (Andrew Asibong); Session 3 March 2022 Psychosocial Aesthetics and the Art of Lived Experience (paper by Jill Bennett, Lynn Froggett and Lizzie Muller); Session 4 April 2022 Play and Playing (paper by Patricia Townsend); and Session 5 May 2022 Psychosocial Curating (paper by Vanessa Bartlett).
Convener and Facilitator: Dr Noreen Giffney
This group was fully booked

Consultations for Research and Publishing in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

In addition to working clinically as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, I provide a professional consultation service for people who are conducting research in the fields of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, or who wish to publish their clinical writing. I have extensive experience in conducting, presenting and publishing research, as well as teaching, supervising and mentoring academic and clinical students undertaking research. I have also held a number of academic editing positions (Book Series Editor, Journal Editor, Special Issue Editor, Book Editor, Contributing Editor, Humanities Book Review Editor, Editorial Board Member) for publications with international publishers, such as Duke University Press, Routledge, Taylor and Francis, Palgrave Macmillan, Ashgate and Punctum Books. I am Lecturer in Counselling in the School of Communication and Media at the University of Ulster and am also available to supervise individuals interested in pursuing doctoral research in the fields of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. For further information and to arrange an appointment, email noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie

Clinical or Theoretical Training Courses or One-Off Lectures

In addition to working clinically as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, I provide individually-tailored clinical and theoretical training courses in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis for fully-qualified professionals in fields relating to mental health (Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, Counselling, Psychology, Psychiatry, Nursing, General Practice), as well as for clinical trainees. I am also available to provide one-off lectures, occasional lectures or modules on Psychoanalysis as part of clinical or academic training programmes. I have extensive experience in lecturing and convening courses at professional, postdoctoral, postgraduate, undergraduate, higher diploma, diploma and certificate levels at a range of institutions: Birkbeck, University of London, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Limerick, the National University of Ireland, Galway, Independent College Dublin, the Irish Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and the Donnybrook Centre for Psychotherapy, Counselling and Onward Professional Development. I am Lecturer in Counselling in the School of Communication and Media at the Ulster University and am also available to supervise individuals interested in pursuing doctoral research in the fields of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. For further information and to arrange an appointment to discuss your training needs, email noreengiffney@psychoanalyticpsychotherapyclinic.ie