Crisis Hotlines

Mourning, Melancholia, and the Use of an Object:
A Freud-Winnicott Dialectic
on Madness and Object Loss

Course Instructor: Stefanie Teitelbaum, LCSW, NCPsyA
Date: April 13th — June 15th, 2023 (8:40 PM – 9:55 PM EDT)
Location: Virtual Participation Only

Continuing Education Information: 14.5 CEs
for APA (all non-NYS Mental Health practitioners), and NYS Psychologists and NYS Social Workers
Tuition: $450/course (can be paid in 2 installments).
Scholarships, full and partial, are available — please fill out the scholarship form below.
Registration fee: $25/course (waived for ORI’s candidates in training)

To Register for this course, please complete the Registration form

by Jim Aitchison, Mourning and Melancholia Series

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

“Thus, the shadow of the object fell upon the ego, and the latter could henceforth be judged by a special agency, as though it were an object, the forsaken object.  In this way, an object-loss was transformed into an ego-loss, and the conflict between the ego and the loved person into a cleavage between the critical activity of the ego and the ego as altered by identification.” (S. Freud, 1917, Mourning and Melancholia)

“In teaching, as in the feeding of a child, the capacity to use objects is taken for granted, but in our work it is necessary for us to be concerned with the development and the establishment of the capacity to use objects and to recognize a patient’s inability to use objects, where this is a fact. … It is in the analysis of the borderline type of case that one has the chance to observe the delicate phenomena that give pointers to an understanding of truly schizophrenic states. By the term ‘a borderline case’ I mean the kind of case in which the core of the patient’s disturbance is psychotic, but the patient has enough psychoneurotic organization always to be able to present psychoneurosis or psychosomatic disorder when the central psychotic anxiety threatens to break through in crude form. In such cases the psychoanalyst may collude for years with the patient’s need to be psychoneurotic (as opposed to mad) and to be treated as psychoneurotic. The analysis goes well, and everyone is pleased. The only drawback is that the analysis never ends.” (D. W. Winnicott, 1969, The Use of an Object)

In Freud’s (1937) last clinical paper, Analysis Terminable and Interminable, he restates the concept of the altered ego as an ego which “approximates to that of the psychotic.” In this course, we will do a close reading of both Mourning and Melancholia and The Use of an Object, looking at Winnicott’s reformulation of Freud’s journey in recognizing the role of unrecognized ‘madness’ in analysis, interminable and at an impasse. The object, the lost object, which the psychotic approximate and the borderline patient cannot use – is the analyst.

We will look at Winnicott’s clinical recommendations and students will use clinical vignettes to experiment with interventions with patients who cannot use the analyst as an object existing independently of the patient in time and space.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this educational activity, its participants will be able to:

  • Define and interpret an “object,” in Freudian and Object relations terms.
  • Define and interpret “representation,” in Freudian and Object relations terms.
  • Discuss the body parts as objects of satisfaction, as discussed in the Three Essays of Sexuality.
  • Discuss and analyze the Narcissistic Objects, as discussed in the Three Essays of Sexuality.
  • Discuss and analyze the Anaclitic Objects, as discussed in the Three Essays of Sexuality.
  • Discuss and analyze Freud’s Libido Theory.
  • Discuss the “Component Instincts” (Three Essays of Sexuality).
  • Discuss and analyze Freud’s “The Shadow of the Object…” concept (in Mourning and Melancholia).
  • Discuss and analyze the differentiation between “Mourning” and “Melancholia”: Mourning — External World.
  • Discuss and analyze the differentiation between “Mourning” and “Melancholia”: Melancholia – Internal World.
  • Analyze the Manic-Depression state as the defense of decathexis.
  • Analyze Winnicott’s Object Creation/Discovery in the Use of the Object.
  • Discuss and analyze Winnicott’s Object Relations – through internal representations, in the Use of the Object.
  • Discuss and analyze Winnicott’s Object Usage – The object in reality.
  • Analyze and apply D.W. Winnicott’s definition of Borderline.
  • Analyze the concept of surrogates of repression (in Freud’s Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety).

COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS:

Week 1: Introduction to the Topic
Learning Objectives for Week 1:
1. The work of representation;
2. Objects as representations of the thing in and of itself.
Readings:
Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams.

Weeks 2 & 3: From Auto-Erotic Body to Part Object and Whole Object Representations
Learning Objectives for weeks 2 & 3:
3. Libido theory and objects of satisfactions;
4. Body parts as part objects of satisfaction;
5. The skin as the erotogenic organ “par excellence”;
6. Narcissistic and Anaclitic whole objects of satisfaction.
Readings:
Freud, S. (1903). Three essays on sexuality.

Week 4: The Reality Principle
Learning Objectives for Week 4:
7. Compare objects of satisfaction in Pleasure/Pain and Pleasure/Reality principles;
8. Common unhappiness and symbolic thinking.
Readings:
Freud, S. (1911). Formulations of two principles of mental functioning. SE XII, 213–226.

Weeks 5, 6, & 7: Object Loss
Learning Objectives for Weeks 5, 6, & 7:
9. Melancholic Identification as a defense against object loss;
10. Differentiation of mourning and melancholia;
11. Manic-Depression and the defense of decathexsis;
12. Surrogates of repression;
13. Compare clinical implications of object loss in neurotic and pre-neurotic structures.
Readings:
Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. SE XIV, 237–258.
Freud, S. (1926). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. SE XX, 75–176.

Weeks 8 & 9: Winnicott and Objects
Learning Objectives for Weeks 8 & 9:
14. Compare object relations and object usage;
15. Borderline and the defense of projective identification;
16. The object breast as a representation of the facilitating environment;
17. Compare Freud’s decathexis in melancholia, and Winnicott’s projective identification in Borderline.
Readings:
D.W. Winnicott (1969). The use of an object. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 50, 711–716.

Week 10 — Course Summary
Learning Objectives for Week 10:
18. Compare the Reality Principle and the Depressive Position.
Readings:
Meltzer, D. (1981). The Kleinian expansion of Freud’s metapsychology. International Journal of psychoanalysis, 62(2), 177–185.

INSTRUCTOR’S BIO:

Stefanie Teitelbaum, LCSW, NPsyA — is a Graduate of NPAP. She is a member, supervisor, training analyst, and on the faculty of NPAP, IEA and ORI. Stefanie Teitelbaum serves on the advisory board of the Psychoanlaytic Review. She has been practicing psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in New York City since 1993. She is also a former staff psychotherapist at the Lower Eastside Service Drug-Free Outpatient Program. Her psychoanalytic papers have been published in The Psychoanalytic Review, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis and Otherwise – The On-Line journal of IFPE.

CONTINUING EDUCATION:

Titles:

  • Mourning, Melancholia, and the Use of an Object: A Freud-Winnicott Dialectic on Madness and Object Loss — Stefanie Teitelbaum (14.5 CE)
  • An Object Relations Approach to Parent-Child Interactions That Impact the Child’s Emotional Development - David P. Celani (8.5 CE)

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Amedco LLC and Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis (ORIPP). Amedco LLC is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Psychologists (APA) Credit Designation

This course is co-sponsored by Amedco and Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis. Amedco is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Amedco maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 23.0 hours.

The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Counselors: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, ME, MO, NC, ND, NH, NE, NJ, NM, NV, OK*, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WY
MI: No CE requirements.
*OK: Accepts APA credit for live, in-person activities but not for ethics and/or online courses.
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for MFTs: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, MD, ME, MO, NE, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NV, OK*, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WY
AL MFTs: Credits authorized by NBCC or any other state licensing agency will be accepted.
MA MFTs: Participants can self-submit courses not approved by the MAMFT board for review.
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Addictions Professionals: AK, AR, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IN, KS, LA, MD, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NY (held outside NY ONLY), OK*, OR, SC, UT, WA, WI, WY
The following state boards accept courses from APA providers for Social Workers: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, ID, IN, KY, ME, MN, MO, NE, NH, NM, OR, PA, VT, WI, WY

New York Board for Social Workers (NY SW)

Amedco SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0115. 23.0 hours.

New York Board for Psychology (NY PSY)

Amedco is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0031. 23.0 hours.

To receive CE certificates for the actual hours attended – please request them at the time of registration or any time prior to beginning of the conference. CE certificate fee: $25 (in addition to the registration fees). No fees charged for PD (Professional Development) certificates from ORI.

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

Tuition: $450/10-week course/trimester (can be paid in 2 installments)
Registration fee: $25/course (waived for ORI’s candidates in training)

SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIPS are available for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for retired or disabled practitioners, or need-based or/and those who live outside of the USA.
To apply for your scholarship, please go to the registration form below.

CANCELLATION POLICY:
Full refund until the 1st session.
75% refund before the 2nd session.
50% refund before the 3rd session.
No refund from the day of the third session, but 50% of the full paid tuition will be applied to any further ORI events.

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