Topic: The Allergic Object Relationship

Presenter: Marilia Aisenstein is one of the most prominent psychoanalysts in Paris.  A member of a Greek family, she was born in Egypt, due to her father’s career as a diplomat.  After her early years in Egypt, she spent the rest of her childhood in Athens and Paris.  Currently she is a Training and Supervising Analyst in the Hellenic Psychoanalytical Society and the Paris Psychoanalytical Society and a past President of the Paris Society. She served as President of the Paris Psychosomatic Institute and co-founded and edited the “Revue Française de Psychosomatique.” The main topics of her writing are psychosomatics, hypochondria, transference, therapeutic action, and depression. In honor of her articles on “Impossible Regressions” and “From the Art of Archery to the Art of Psychoanalysis,” she received the Maurice Bouvet prize in 1993 for outstanding psychoanalytic writings by a French author.  She co-edited with Elsa Rappoport de Aisemberg, Psychosomatics Today: A psychoanalytic perspective (Routledge, 2010, second edition 2022). Her most recent book, Desire, Pain and Thought: Primal Masochism and Psychoanalytic Theory, was published by Routledge in 2023.

Description:  The allergic object relationship, as discussed by Marilia Aisenstein, is allergic in two senses.  First, this kind of relationship can be seen as having a metaphorical similarity to an allergy.  The person inhabits the other.  At times, the person has a compelling need to achieve a maximum degree of fusion with the other, to the point of reaching a state of non-differentiation.  Second, psychosomatic reactions, similar to those of an allergy, often result when the relationship is imperiled – symptoms such as asthma, eczema, and skin rashes develop.  To put it another way, the allergic self identifies with the invasive other, and this form of closeness prevents the self from forming allergens that would protect the self.  In illustrating the nature of the allergic object relationship, Aisenstein discusses her three-year treatment in Paris of a Korean woman.

The talk is targeted to psychoanalytic psychotherapists. The specific goal is to have the audience members learn about the nature of the allergic object relationship and how to treat patients who relate in this way.  The meeting will consist of a lecture including a clinical presentation followed by a period of discussion and questions. The presenter, Marilia Aisenstein, is a psychoanalyst and an expert at working with psychosomatic patients, including those who have allergic object relationships.  She is a leading figure in the French psychoanalytic community where an analysis of this type of object relationship has been developed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will be able to:

1. describe the allergic object relationship;
2. explain why psychosomatic symptoms sometimes stem from this kind of object relationship.

The presenter, Marilia Aisenstein, and the organizers, Suzanne Rosenfeld and James W. Anderson, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to report.

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

Physicians: 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 the 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 2.0 AMA PRA Category I Credit(s) ^TM . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Psychologists: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute is approved as a continuing education sponsor for Psychologists by the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Institute designates this continuing education activity as earning 2.0 hours of Continuing Education Credit. CE Sponsor License #268.000091

Professional Counselors: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute is approved as a continuing education sponsor for Professional Counselors by the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Institute designates this continuing education activity as earning 2.0 hours of Continuing Education Credit. CE Sponsor License #197-000202.

Social Workers: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute is approved as a continuing education sponsor for Social Workers by the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Institute designates this continuing education activity as earning 2.0 hours of Continuing Education Credit. CE Sponsor License #159-000122.

Marriage and Family Therapists: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute is approved as a continuing education sponsor for Marriage and Family Therapists by the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Institute designates this continuing education activity as earning 2.0 hours of Continuing Education Credit. CE Sponsor License #168-000204.

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.