Suicide: Psychodynamic Theories & Perspectives
Alison Feit, PhD
Suicide: Psychodynamic Theories & Perspectives
Alison Feit, PhD
“The psychoanalytic theories of suicide prove, perhaps, only what was already obvious: that the processes which lead a man to take his own life are at least as complex and difficult as those by which he continues to live. The theories help untangle the intricacy of motive and define the deep ambiguity of the wish to die but say little about what it means to be suicidal, and how it feels.” A. Alvarez, The Savage God
The pain of existence can make it hard to go on, to push forward. Few who do not suffer from such anguish can truly understand what it means to hold on to hope at such moments. Pulitzer-winning poet Galway Kinnell (February 1, 1927–October 28, 2014) was an exception. In an attempt to give hope to a student of his who was on the verge of suicide, he wrote the beautiful poem “Wait” which begs for, almost pleads, for time by enticing the reader with it langauge. The last lines read: “ Wait. Don’t go too early. You’re tired. But everyone’s tired. But no one is tired enough. Only wait a while and listen. Music of hair, Music of pain, music of looms weaving all our loves again.Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,most of all to hear,the flute of your whole existence, rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.”
Thursday, August 26, 2021
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
Fee: $60 for 2.0 Credit Hours
Location: In-Person or Virtually via Zoom
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:
Basic epidemiology and overview of suicide
-Bachman S. (2018). Epidemiology of Suicide and the Psychiatric Perspective. International journal of environmental research and public health 15(7), 1425
-Maltsberger, J.T. (2004). The descent into suicide. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85(3):653-667 (This article was read by some class participants in a former course, but is included here for those who have not as yet read it.) Selected psychoanalytic perspectives on suicide
-Bateman, A. and Fonagy, P. (2013). Mentalization-Based Treatment. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 33(6):595-613
-Briggs, S. (2006). “Consenting to its own Destruction”: A Reassessment of Freud’s Development of a Theory of Suicide. Psychoanalytic Review, 93(4):541-564
-Winnicott, D.W. (1974). Fear of Breakdown. Int. Rev. Psycho-Anal., 1:103-107
-Kay, J. (1989). Self-Psychological Perspectives on Suicide. Progress in Self Psychology, 5:169-186 (Chapter 10)
-Goldblatt, M. (2010). Suicide and masochism: The evolving relationship between guilt, suffering, self-attack and suicide. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 24(2):93-100 A window into treatment, those we have lost and those left behind
-Titelman, D. (2006). Primo Levi’s Loneliness: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Suicide- Nearness. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75(3):835-858
-Feirstein, F. (2016). A Psychoanalytic Study of Sylvia Plath. Psychoanalytic Review, 103(1):103-126
Click HERE for Continuing Education Credit details.