Events and Seminars
| Event | : | Remembering Henri Rey |
|---|---|---|
| Venue | : | Online |
| Date | : | 28/01/2024 |
| Duration | : | 10am - 12pm GMT |
| Extra Info | : | Remembering Henri Rey: Michael Feldman and John Steiner in Dialogue Henri Rey’s seminal work on borderline and psychotic patients who alternate between claustro- and agoraphobic anxieties led him to identify the claustro-agoraphobic dilemma, where borderline, narcissistic, and schizoid patients experience no place of safety. They are afraid of being trapped while inside their object and terrified of disintegration if they escape to the emptiness of outside space. Henri Rey worked from 1945 to 1977 at London’s Maudsley Hospital, where he was a loved and inspiring teacher who profoundly influenced generations of psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and psychotherapists. Recognized for his warmth, generosity, and kindness toward his students and his empathy toward his patients and their suffering, Rey was able to decipher the confusing states of mind of patients presenting with frightening and psychotic features. Following Freud’s work on mourning and melancholia and Klein’s understanding of the internal world and need for reparation in states of depression, Rey found ways to assist his patients in the internal and creative work required to help them achieve some degree of reparation. Rey believed that until this level of work was achieved, patients would continue to feel the burden of persecutory guilt and anxiety that would prevent them from living an individuated life of their own. Rey understood that there is no place of safety, no internal or external figure who might be called upon as a reliable and trusted object. Rey’s classic papers, Universals of Psychoanalysis in the Treatment of Psychotic and Borderline States, edited by Jean Magagna (Routledge 1994), are widely read today. The conversation between Michael Feldman and John Steiner will emphasize Rey’s concepts and their profound influence: reparation, a spatial model of mind, a marsupial space as an intermediate locus where the “joey” or patient can mature in the mother’s body and attempt some outside excursion, and safeguarding access to the protection of the mother. Susan Finkelstein and Heinz Weiss will pick up the conversation to consider Michael Feldman’s work on the emotional availability in the clinical encounter, grievance, and doubt (Doubt, Conviction and Analytic Process (Routledge 2009) and John Steiner’s work on psychic retreats and pathological defensive organizations (Psychic Retreats: Pathological Organizations in Psychotic, Neurotic and Borderline Patients [Routledge 1993]). The papers appearing in The Claustro-Agoraphobic Dilemma in Psychoanalysis: Fear of Madness (S. Finkelstein, H. Weiss) reflect the enormous influence of Henri Rey. This book and conference are intended to remind the audience of Rey’s seminal contributions to psychoanalysis and to elevate him to the prominence he deserves. Presenters: Michael Feldman John Steiner Heinz Weiss Susan N Finkelstein |
| Organised By | : | Contemporary Freudian Society |
| Web Link | : | https://contemporaryfreudiansociety.org/event/remembering-henri-rey-michael-feldman-and-john-steiner-in-dialogue/ |