SAPC Conference 2016

Molweni,

We are pleased to say that we have had a very good response to our SAPC National Conference. Bookings are going fast and furious and many people have commented enthusiastically about the rich and diverse conference programme. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

For those who have not yet booked and who are concerned about costs, here are a number of options that might make the decision easier:

1. Group rates: For 5 or more registrations we are offering a reduced registration of – R1,800 per person/ R650 per student
2. For out of town people we have retained the early-bird fee to compensate for the extra costs incurred
3.  CPD points (both normal CEU’s and ethics points) have been applied for.
4. The AGM on the Sunday is intended as a cost-saving strategy, saving on travel costs. If you need to represent your group at the AGM you may be able to negotiate a travel subsidy from your group?
5. We would like to remind you that skyping is another way in which you can participate in the AGM if your situation does not allow you to attend in person. Please alert us if you will be skyping in to the AGM meeting so that we can make the necessary technical provisions.

We encourage you all to attend the Cocktail Party on the Friday 28th October.

• We are in the process of securing an address by an Official of the Western Cape Health Department
• Bea Wirz  bwirzct@gmail.com and Siobhan Sweeney Siobhan@humannature.co.za are busy organising a SAPC Poster Display of our members’ diverse psychoanalytic work.
• Nicky Jordan nicolettecjordan@gmail.com is setting up a book display of our memberships publications.
• Enzo Sinisi enzo@hixnet.co.za  is setting up an innovative COG initiative facilitating the ongoing dialogue between members before, during and after the conference.
• Dain Peters and Candice Dumas have been developing and fundraising for the piloting of new SAPC Video Award Project. In support of this, there will be a screening of 4 short videos created by the UCT students.

Many thanks to all of these members for all of their hard work!  As you can see the cocktail party promises to be a lively event. It is scheduled to end at 19h15 so that still gives you time to proceed with your normal Friday evening plans or, even better, of devising other ways to continue the evening together with out of town colleagues. Such networking is particularly central to this SAPC initiative.

Make sure you don’t miss out by booking soon to attend the cocktail party and by supporting these efforts by contributing your posters, publications and signing up for the COG initiative.

We are looking forwarding to see you all at the Conference.

Best wishes

SAPC Conference Committee

Moving through the sky, at great speed, and under control of an unknown, albeit trained person is for many, scary.

Its not natural for humans to fly. This fear is a normal fear because it comes from an instinct to live and avoid being in a dangerous place. This instinct is seen in small babies or animals who will not crawl over a glass table because they know they can fall and be hurt. Being cautious and thoughtful is what we all need, to live safely.

Flying in an airplane evokes for some, primitive fears to do with death and trust. Flying may remind someone that they are vulnerable to dying, something they hadn’t thought deeply about before. Worries about how a person dies can also be triggered when flying. Some worry about dying frightened, falling, unable to breathe or just in pain. Independent people who avoid vulnerable situations don’t care about the moment of death, but whether they are able to trust another person like the pilot, to keep them safe.

There are other levels of meaning to this difficulty because it triggers other underlying issues and earlier experiences. Trusting another person with your life is a huge feat and relates to reliability of parents and caregivers. The fear of falling can mean being dropped emotionally or physically. Feeling very small in relation to the earth below and stars above may be hard for some to bear.

Flying in an airplane can be for some so overwhelming that it makes travel impossible. They lose out on having lovely experiences. It isn’t always possible to just be brave and courageous. People use all kinds of methods to manage their fear of flying such as meditation, self talk and self medicating with alcohol or using prescribed sleeping pills. Another method is to be slowly introduced to the fearful situations like flying. Unfortunately, these methods don’t always work. Often a deeper process is needed in conjunction with these methods. For these people psycho-analytic psychotherapy is very effective. This helps people to understand and work through the ideas and feelings underneath the fear so that the real upset, not a worry about flying, gets to be soothed and healed.

Written by Cathy Rogers (clinical social worker and SAPC member). Visit www.cathyrogers.co.za

Freud placed great emphasis on people becoming consciously aware of previously repressed material during psychoanalysis. Remembering repressed memories or becoming mindful of unconscious material was a central component of Freud’s therapeutic approach[i]. This sentiment was echoed by Carl Jung in stressing the importance of making that which was unconscious conscious in psychotherapy. In psychoanalytic therapy today exploring and understanding a patient’s unconscious dynamics via free association, dreams and the transference forms an integral part of everyday practice. Yet numerous patients struggle with this specific task in therapy. It is simply too painful for some and they retreat, many terminating therapy at this point. Unable or unwilling to acknowledge and deal with their painful psychic realities. I remember facing certain realities about myself in my own therapy and how painful that process was. The journey of seeking out those unconscious gods that hold sway over our lives is one of peril. Jung, one of the great explorers of the unconscious issues the following warning to those who seek knowledge about the self: “There is no coming to consciousness without pain”[ii]. As I invite patients on a daily basis to explore and confront their shadow, I am many times reminded of the mythic Norse tale of King Gylfe and his journey towards Asgard, the home of the gods.

A great many hundreds of years after the creation of the world, there ruled a wise king whose name was Gylfe. He was a seeker after wisdom and finding that no man could answer the questions which he was continually asking himself, Gylfe made the long journey to Asgard, thinking to learn the secrets of the gods. The gods have often visited men, but men have rarely visited the gods, and the King’s coming to Asgard was the beginning of a new wisdom among men. No sooner did he enter the home of the gods than he found himself in a great hall. Then Odin, spoke in a deep and wonderful tone and asked why he had come there? He replied boldly that he wanted to find a wise man if there were one. Then Odin answered him in words which were so full of meaning that he did not understand them until long afterwards: “You shall not go from this place unharmed unless you go wiser than you came.” It is dangerous to seek the gods, unless we profit by what they tell us; for it is better to be ignorant than to possess knowledge and not live by it.[iii]

In seeking out our unconscious gods we need to confront unsettling and at times painful memories, thoughts and feelings. Odin’s cautionary warning is a stark reminder to all of us involved in helping people along this journey. Maybe in the future psychotherapists should have Odin’s warning enshrined on a plaque above their practice doors: “You shall not go from this place unharmed unless you go wiser than you came.” I for one am considering it. We as psychoanalytic therapists and patients will do good to remember his wise words.

Written by Henry Meiring (clinical psychologist, SAPC member). Find Henry on www.centurycitypsychology.co.za or follow him on www.twitter.com/hjmeiring 

References [i]             Sigmund Freud, “Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through,” in vol. 12 of Standard Edition the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, ed. And trans. James Strachey (London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psychoanalyis, 1958). [ii]             Carl Gustav Jung, “Psychology and Alchemy,” in vol. 12 of Collected Works of C. G. Jung, trans. R. F. C. Hull (New York: Pantheon, 1953) [iii]             Hamilton Wright Mabie, “Norse Mythology: Great stories from the Eddas,” (New York: Dover Publications, 2002)