WMAAPP
Western Massachusetts and Albany Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology
presents:
Robert Grossmark, Ph.D., ABPP
The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst, Enactment and Narrative: The Shift from Epistemology to Ontology in Psychoanalysis
Saturday September 25, 2021
9:00 am—Zoom Gathering
9:30 am — 12 pm — Presentation
PRESENTER
Robert Grossmark, Ph.D., ABPP is a psychoanalyst in New York City. He works with individuals, couples and groups. He is on the teaching and supervising faculty at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, The National Institute for the Psychotherapies Program in Adult Psychoanalysis, The National Training Program in Psychoanalysis, The Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society Training Program, and lectures at other psychoanalytic institutes and clinical psychology training program nationally and internationally.
Dr. Grossmark is author of The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Companioning and co-edited The One and the Many: Relational Approaches to Group Psychotherapy and Heterosexual Masculinities: Contemporary Perspectives from Psychoanalytic Gender Theory. All of these works are published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
This presentation addresses the challenges met when working with patients who cannot “work together” with an analyst, who are not sufficiently able to symbolize and mentalize. We will address both patients who suffer disturbances in the area of self-other definition, continuity and regulation of self, as well as patients who can appear to be more related and reflective, but harbor sequestered self states that are dominated by areas of unrepresented and unsymbolized trauma and neglect.
This presentation will present the position of the unobtrusive relational analyst who companions the patient in the emergence of illusion, fragmentation and non-relatedness and privileges the inner world of the patient that becomes the signature and defining sculptor of the clinical interaction and process.
Unrepresented and unformulated trauma and neglect announce themselves in the flow of mutual enactive engagement and rather than seek to move the patient into greater relatedness and, insight, the analyst companions the patient in the emergence of yet to be known and thought narratives of trauma and fragmentation. The tilt is toward an ontological position that privileges being-with the patient here rather than epistemological where meaning can be symbolized and interpreted.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After attending this intermediate-level program participants will be able:
1. To develop an appreciation of a psychoanalysis that can work in the area of non-symbolized and non-represented phenomena.
2. To bring themselves to the treatment while unobtrusively maintaining the space for the patient’s inner reality.
3. To orient themselves in entering the patient’s world rather than bringing the patient into his or her world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grossmark, R. (2012). The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 22:629-646.
Grossmark, R. (2012). The Flow of Enactive Engagement, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 48, 3, 287-300.
Grossmark, R. (2016). Psychoanalytic Companioning, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 26:698-712.
Grossmark, R. (2018). Enactment: The Total Situation in The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Companioning, Routledge.
Grossmark, R. (2018). Everything Happens at Once in The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Companioning, Routledge.
CE CREDITS
CE Credits? Yes
2.5
CONFIDENTIALITY AND WMAAPP POLICY
In order to protect the confidentiality of the clinical material, and to adhere to APA ethical guidelines, it is required that those attending the program be either currently licensed mental health professionals, psychoanalysts, or currently matriculated students in mental health programs (psychology, social work, psychiatry, psychoanalysis). Students are required to provide the name of their program. There will be no exceptions.
Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities.
Division 39 is also committed to conducting all activities In conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during the discussion periods. If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. For questions, concerns or complaints, please Contact Us.
LOCATION : ZOOM
Contact Phone: 917-459-3432
Contact Email: judith.rosenberger@gmail.com
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Sponsorship and 
Continuing Education
2.5 CE credits are available to psychologists and psychoanalysts, and 2.5 CE credits will be provided for social workers and LMHCs.
Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. Division 39 is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during the discussion periods. If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns or any complaints to Judith Rosenberger, Ph.D., LCSW (917) 459-3432.
WMAAPP is the local chapter of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association.
WMAAPP is committed to following APA ethical guidelines.