Upcoming Program

co-sponsored by: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

A Dialogue with Vamik Volkan after
the showing of the movie

Blind Trust: 

Bringing Enemy Groups Together for Dialogue

Presenters: Molly Castelloe, PhD & Vamik Volkan, MD

Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM Central time

By Zoom Only

Molly S. Castelloe, Ph.D., psychoanalyst, holds a doctorate in theater and psychology. She has held faculty positions at several colleges, including New York University, and presented on the subjects of performance and psychoanalysis at national symposia. Her articles have appeared in international refereed journals, including the Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society and The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. Molly is a candidate at The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Her documentary film, Blind Trust: Leaders & Followers in Times of Crisis, garnered the Gradiva Award, which recognizes international excellence in art that furthers the ideas and practice of psychotherapy. The film was screened at The Freud Museums in London and Vienna, The Carter Center School, and The Hague. She blogs for Psychology Today.

Vamık D. Volkan is an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia and an emeritus training and supervising analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Washington, D.C. During his 39 years at the University of Virginia Volkan was the medical director of the university's Blue Ridge Hospital for eighteen years. A year after his 2002 retirement, he became the Senior Erik Erikson Scholar at the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and he has spent three to six months there each year for ten years.

Description: 

Blind Trust, a film by Molly Castelloe on the life and work of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Vamik Volkan. Dr. Volkan is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has spent over four decades bringing enemy groups together in areas of conflict all over the world. Blind Trust takes us on a journey of Dr. Volkan’s life from his birthplace on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus to his development of a model of diplomacy based on the emotional life of nations. This look into his pioneering fieldwork and peace-building missions in Europe, the Middle East, and the US sheds light on how large-group identity and shared trauma can both unite us and divide us for generations.

Agenda:

10am-11am CST: A showing of the movie Blind Trust

11am-12:30pm CST: A dialogue between Dr. Molly Castelloe and Dr. Vamik Volkan followed by questions from the audience

Please note the first hour of the presentation is a movie, which does not count towards CMEs/CEUs. It is only the hour and a half discussion following the movie that counts towards 1.5 CMEs/CEUs.

More information and works by Vamik Volkan: click here

FILM TRAILER (click image to play)

Interview with Vamik Volkan and Ahmad Fawzi
(click link or image to view)

A recent interview Dr. Volkan did with Ahmad Fawzi, Spokesperson for the United Nations, in honor of International Day of Peace 2023

Learning Objectives

After attending this session, participants should be able to:

1. Describe how large-group identity and shared trauma can both unite us and divide us for generations.
2. Describe a core element of Volkan’s peace building missions

Admission is free. Continuing Education Credits are offered exclusively to Society members in all membership categories and those intending to join.

The presenter, Michelle Stephens, and the organizer, Lisa Karaitis, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to report.

Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program.

ACCME Accreditation Statement: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) and the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement: The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement: The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that 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 relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Accreditation Information for Professionals Other Than Physicians.  The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content, in relation to accreditation for CE credits for non-physicians.  CPI is licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to sponsor continuing education credits for (license numbers in parentheses): Social Workers (159.000122), Professional Counselors (197.000202), Marriage and Family Therapy Therapists (168.00204), and Clinical Psychologists (268.000091). 

Eligible professionals will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits an evaluation form must be completed online. Learners must claim the amount of time spent in the educational activity and that will be the amount of credit they will earn.

(Zoom link will be automatically emailed to you when you register)