Christine Anzieu-Premmereur, M.D., Ph.D.
“I’ve got you under my skin”: Psychosomatic Theory and Treatment
Friday, February 22, 2019
Conference Description:
Psychosomatic symptoms can be difficult to understand and to treat since they involve reading and understanding the language of the body. Dr. Premmereur will present psychoanalytic views on psychosomatics with clinical examples of adults and children. This conference is ideal for therapists working with children as well as those who are treating adult patients with somatic symptoms or those with borderline features
Her discussion will be based on concepts and theory from The Psychosomatic School of Paris which has described specific behaviors and mood issues associated with psychosomatic symptoms and illnesses. She will elaborate on how the lack of imaginary representations and fantasies by the individual patient is associated with impulsivity, agitation, and “empty behavior.” She will further define and discuss the label of “blank neurosis” to stress the negative part of the symptoms where there is a poverty of interpersonal exchanges, lack of cathexis in affective relations to others, neutral tone of affects, and automatization of life. Addressing these issues requires a specific active technique of intervention.
During the second part of the conference, she will add to the discussion on the role of the body, by giving an overview of the Skin Ego theory and how it is useful when working with young children and borderline adults: from a mental representation of the self as being wrapped into the skin, to the capacity to contain emotions and thoughts. The Skin Ego and evaluating its defects can assist the therapist in developing a technique appropriate to primitive emotions. Some clinical vignettes will illustrate those defects and the role of the therapist.
She will discuss a couple of different cases, one about a young child suffering from night terrors and eczema, which will lead to a discussion about the quality of mental life and its consequences on the body and another case involving a somatoform disorder in an adult.
About the Presenter:
Christine Anzieu-Premmereur is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in New York City who works in private practice with adults and children, as well as with parents and their babies. She is on the faculty of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research, where she directs the Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Training Programme and is Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on mother-infant interaction, the role of maternal containment, psychosomatic symptoms, and the skin-ego. In 2013 she published a book chapter entitled "The Process of Representation in Early Childhood,” and another in 2017 entitled "Attacks on Linking in Parents of Young Disturbed Children. In 2018 she co-edited, with Vaia Tsolas, a book entitled A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Body in Today’s World.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will describe three specific unconscious issues associated with psychosomatic disorders.
Participants will evaluate two aspects of the role of the parent-infant interaction in the child’s psychic functioning.
Participants will be able to identify three techniques of play and analytic therapy in parent-child work.
Participants will be able to identify two different ways the concept of the skin-ego affects the development of psychosomatic symptoms in adults or children.
DATE: Friday February 22, 2019
TIME: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Note: These are different starting and ending times than past conferences.)
LOCATION: TBA
CE CREDITS: 6
REGISTRATION: $150 ($75 for full-time students; $100 for non-profit participants).
LATE REGISTRATION: Late fee of $25 for registrations received after February 15, 2019.
You may register online through our online payment page, or by downloading the 2018-2019 Registration form from our Downloads Page and mailing it to: IPISLC, 699 E. South Temple, #202, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. Pre-register to receive readings and parking passes in advance. In-person registration will be available beginning at 9:00 a.m. on the day of the conference. For registration questions, contact Becky Bailey, PhD, IPISLC Director of Training, 801-521-6234 or baileybecky00@gmail.com.
STUDENT DISCOUNTS: proof of current full-time enrollment in a course of study related to mental health required (contact Becky Bailey PhD at baileybecky00@gmail.com to complete enrollment).
For additional information, contact Becky Bailey, PhD at baileybecky00@gmail.com or 801-521-6234. Contact IPISLC at ipislc@comcast.net for more information on any of our programs, including objectives, target audience, instructional level of the activity, schedule, cost, refund/cancellation policy, instructor credentials and CE credit.
IPISLC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, gender, sexual preference or physical handicap.
The International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. IPI maintains responsibility for the program and its content. IPI is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP™) and may offer NBCC approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the program. IPI is a California Board of Behavioral Sciences approved continuing education provider for MFCC and LCSW licensure (approval #PCE 1508). CE Credits for Social Workers approved by the Utah Chapter of NASW.
