Topic:  Problems with the Psychoanalytic Concept of Regression

Presenter: Gregory Rizzolo, PhD

Gregory S. Rizzolo, PhD is a faculty member at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and at the Institute for Clinical Social Work. His work has appeared in Psychoanalytic Psychology, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, and The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JAPA), among others.  In 2017 he received the JAPA Prize for the best paper of the year in the journal.  Just recently he was appointed Editor of JAPA, one of foremost of all psychoanalytic journals.   He published a book on a topic related to his talk today, The Critique of Regression (Routledge, 2019).  He serves as Clinical Director of Depth Counseling, a psychotherapy practice in Chicago.

Talk Description:  Psychoanalysis has traditionally conceptualized the adult patient in terms of fixations or arrests that occurred in childhood.  Successful treatment is often thought to facilitate a therapeutic regression to early problems.  While childhood is where we start, it is nonetheless essential, as presenter Greg Rizzolo will argue, to understand the here-and-now field dynamics that keep our childhood problems alive.  Indeed, the here-and-now field plays a significant role in what we pull forward from our complex and multifaceted pasts.  The implication is that we work not so much on childhood problems as on the way that the adult re-inscribes these problems in the developmental present.  In each repetition, we find familiar elements but also subtle changes and new openings.  Greg argues that psychoanalytic therapy works primarily in the present—even when we are dealing with how we (presently) repeat or recall aspects of early childhood development.

Learning Objectives:

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

1. Explain how the concept of "regression'' has been used in psychoanalytic theory;
2. Identify novel elements in the experience and behavior that has been typically referred to as “regressive."

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.