I am a psychologist/psychoanalyst, playwright and writer, and Embodied Imagination practitioner (a post-jungian form of dreamwork). I have had a life-long interest in the creative process and am a fan of interdisciplinary exploration. I recently published "Imagination, Creativity and Spirituality in Psychotherapy: Welcome to Wonderland." Phone: 917 363-4527 Address: 77 E 12th St, Suite19D New York, NY 10003
This article invites the reader to consider potential space through the exploration of actual spa... more This article invites the reader to consider potential space through the exploration of actual space and examines the role of architecture and design in its ability to transform us through the creation of a facilitating environment. An extension of psychoanalysis’s recent appreciation of embodiment, we will explore how actual space can both contain and reveal, help us process and regulate affect, and create personal and shared meaning. In this regard, I discuss the therapeutic effect of a major work of architecture, Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin. The museum acknowledges and contains the horror of the Holocaust while also providing a narrative of hope. The sense of respect, the thoughtfulness and interactivity of the design, the playfulness and use of surprise all have relevance for the psychoanalytic process. As we reflect on the intersections of psychoanalysis, architecture, and design, we can hopefully become even more effective in entering and utilizing potential space with our patients.
This article is a contribution to the sparse literature on the pregnancy of the therapist. The th... more This article is a contribution to the sparse literature on the pregnancy of the therapist. The therapist's pregnancy is viewed as an event that can facilitate progress for some female patients with preoedipal problems. In these cases, it provides a dramatic opportunity to address developmental difficulties, including separation problems and inadequate ego ideal formation, through the analysis of the self-object transference. Clinical material illustrates the working through of these issues for a patient in whom the therapist's pregnancy was stressful but not traumatic. Therapeutic interventions were aimed at fostering greater differentiation between self and object. A contrasting case is also examined in which the pregnancy was felt to be traumatic and feelings about it largely denied. However, underlying transference issues were eventually addressed.
The author appreciates the unique perspectives of both Gerald and Sperber and how they enhance ou... more The author appreciates the unique perspectives of both Gerald and Sperber and how they enhance our understanding of the interweaving of exterior and interior space. Sperber discusses how buildings allow us access to a wide range of feelings, including affects dissociated by trauma. Gerald accepts the author’s invitation to “daydream” and wonders if the author experienced an integration of various parts of herself as a result of this experience. This led the author to become emotionally aware, in a way she had not been before, of her intergenerational history, especially the anguish of her mother and grandmother regarding the traumatic events of the Holocaust. The experience at the Jewish Museum offered healing, not just for her but in an intergenerational sense as well. The author also realized that by considering the experience as a dream, she could extend the healing.
This article invites the reader to consider potential space through the exploration of actual spa... more This article invites the reader to consider potential space through the exploration of actual space and examines the role of architecture and design in its ability to transform us through the creation of a facilitating environment. An extension of psychoanalysis’s recent appreciation of embodiment, we will explore how actual space can both contain and reveal, help us process and regulate affect, and create personal and shared meaning. In this regard, I discuss the therapeutic effect of a major work of architecture, Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin. The museum acknowledges and contains the horror of the Holocaust while also providing a narrative of hope. The sense of respect, the thoughtfulness and interactivity of the design, the playfulness and use of surprise all have relevance for the psychoanalytic process. As we reflect on the intersections of psychoanalysis, architecture, and design, we can hopefully become even more effective in entering and utilizing potential space with our patients.
This article is a contribution to the sparse literature on the pregnancy of the therapist. The th... more This article is a contribution to the sparse literature on the pregnancy of the therapist. The therapist's pregnancy is viewed as an event that can facilitate progress for some female patients with preoedipal problems. In these cases, it provides a dramatic opportunity to address developmental difficulties, including separation problems and inadequate ego ideal formation, through the analysis of the self-object transference. Clinical material illustrates the working through of these issues for a patient in whom the therapist's pregnancy was stressful but not traumatic. Therapeutic interventions were aimed at fostering greater differentiation between self and object. A contrasting case is also examined in which the pregnancy was felt to be traumatic and feelings about it largely denied. However, underlying transference issues were eventually addressed.
The author appreciates the unique perspectives of both Gerald and Sperber and how they enhance ou... more The author appreciates the unique perspectives of both Gerald and Sperber and how they enhance our understanding of the interweaving of exterior and interior space. Sperber discusses how buildings allow us access to a wide range of feelings, including affects dissociated by trauma. Gerald accepts the author’s invitation to “daydream” and wonders if the author experienced an integration of various parts of herself as a result of this experience. This led the author to become emotionally aware, in a way she had not been before, of her intergenerational history, especially the anguish of her mother and grandmother regarding the traumatic events of the Holocaust. The experience at the Jewish Museum offered healing, not just for her but in an intergenerational sense as well. The author also realized that by considering the experience as a dream, she could extend the healing.
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