Topic:  Diversity, morality, and politics in analytic group life: Carving out some time to think

Presenter: David M. Brooks has been the President of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute since October 1, 2022.   He is a Personal and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California and a member of the faculty at both institutions.  He graduated from The Psychoanalytic Center of California in 2014 with a clinical doctorate in psychoanalysis. 

David came into psychoanalysis through philosophy.  For his BA he completed a double major in Philosophy and the History of Science, and double minors in comparative literature and the classics.  His earned a master’s is phenomenology and his clinical doctorate in existential-phenomenological psychology from Duquesne University.  He is interested in the intersection of phenomenology and psychoanalysis and the various roles and meanings of despair in clinical work, particularly in clinical impasses with difficult-to reach-patients.   He is also interested in the application of analytic principles to group and social life.

Talk Description: What does it mean to be a citizen (member) of an analytic institution?  What do politics and morality have to do with analytic citizenship?   What does it mean to elevate “diversity” as a value for analytic group life?   Politics deals with (1) inevitable human conflicts between authority, obligation and liberty, which are byproducts of the group’s effort to pursue the moral; (2) the goals we can share about the kind of life we want to have living together as a community; and (3) what we want the “good life” of an analytic institution to be like.  Elevating diversity as a moral value, as a good, will add something “more” to our group life together.  Politics and morality, to be realistic, have to be grounded in a picture of the human condition or human nature.  Psychoanalysis can provide such a picture; the aim of this talk is to elaborate the fundamental principles of analytic morality as a basis for rethinking what being a citizen of an analytic institution can mean when diversity is elevated as a political (and moral) virtue.

After attending this session, participants should be able to:

1. appreciate the benefits of a psychoanalytic institution valuing diversity;
2. describe the fundamental principles of analytic morality.

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

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 and Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

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.

 IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational 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. *Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.