Author: Walter

British Psychoanalytical Association Be interesting to be part of the discussions, but for the rest of us it is at least a good list of video picks.

Semi-Kiwi

The barn roof needs painting

and the spouting is ruined.

Likewise the roof of this house

in which we live, borer here,

rot there. I’m neither handy

in the great Kiwi DIY tradition,

nor monied, which rather leaves

us up shit creek without a shovel.

I grub to find what Stevens called

the ‘plain sense of things’

and come up empty-handed

more often than not, but

I’m a dab-hand at recognising,

if not suppressing, self-pity,

and I can back a trailer

expertly, so all is not lost.

Best New Zealand Poems 2001

This book by Robert Mitchell Lindner, Jonathan Lear (intro) from the reviews this sounds like a classic – written in the 60’s. I was interested to hear in an Amazon review:

This book is particularly interesting in light of Gene Brewer’s novel (and now film) “K-PAX”, based on “The Jet-Propelled Couch” episode in this book.

I quite liked the film but not as much as the similar “Man Facing South East”.

amazon

Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/10/2003 | :

“Evoking the Greek word psyche, which means ‘life, spirit, soul, self,’ he writes, ‘etymologically, culturally, and ethically, psychiatry means ‘healing the soul.’… That can never be answered simply by prescribing an alteration in brain chemistry.’

Frattaroli defines the soul not so much in Judeo-Christian terms but by combining Freud’s ideas with insights from Plato and Rene Descartes.

For him, the soul is ‘the experiencing self’ or the ‘seeing I’ – it’s the self-awareness always present in the background when we have specific thoughts and feelings. He describes it as a dynamic force that ‘integrates processes happening at four levels of experience: body, brain, mind, and spirit.'”

An interesting newspaper article – partly because Tirdad Derakhshani, the author refers to a book I am now interested in by Frattaroli.

Did some more surfing:

An interview with Elio Frattaroli Re-Introducing the Soul I like what he says here, it is a well put case, much in the way I think of the question of medication and psychotherapy, a quote follows:

The Psychotherapeutic Model is based on the idea that it is through inner conflict that we grow. Even though inner conflict leads to painful emotions and to disruptions in social functioning, which can look and feel like illnesses, it also offers an opportunity for growth. Of course the ideal is to have both models in mind. You can’t have just a growth philosophy that ignores the need for stability but you can have a stability philosophy that ignores the need for growth; however it is very limited. As I understand and practice it, the Psychotherapeutic Model takes both models into account.

I am very much in favor of using medications in certain situations. Medication can be necessary and helpful as long as it is used within the larger context that respects not only the chemical and stability aspects of illness but also the emotional-existential aspects and the need for growth.

He has a book on the subject:

Here is what one reviewer says of it:

A Wonderful Companion to the Psychoanalytic Process, May 27, 2003
**** Reviewer: John from Miami , FL United States
I had been immersed in the psychoanalytic process for over three years when I came across this book. Having experienced, first hand, the soulful aspects of analysis, both pleasant and painful, I connected instantly to Dr. Frattaroli’s accounts of his work with patients. I am convinced that the only sane and solid path to emotional well being is the long, introspective one described so eloquently in this book. If you have ever considered beginning psychoanalysis (or you are simply interested in learning more about what it means to be fully human) then I strongly recommend that you read this book.

amazon

GM Resource This is the statement that appears with my listing in the GM directory. Here is the psychodrama statement in full:

Psychodrama is an active method that enlivens and promotes learning and health. It combines practice, enactment and role development. When used as psychotherapy the relationships and the individual’s way of being are immediately available. In community and organisational settings people can explore together relationships, social structures and challenges to anticipate, plan and co-produce effective courses of action.

Psychodrama includes all of the theories, action methods and techniques that derive from the work of Dr Jacob L Moreno (1889-1974). Training in these methods is achieved through an integration of theory and practice by a process of supervised experiential learning.

Those who complete this training will have been assessed and certificated by The Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association as either a role trainer, sociometrist, sociodramatist or psychodramatist.

The role trainer focuses on the development of specific aspects of the functioning of another person. A role trainer is experienced in role analysis and therefore assesses which roles are present or absent in a person’s repertoire. A role trainer is skilled in mobilising the spontaneity of the group and the individual to produce new responses. New responses become the basis of new roles. Role training, when skilfully done, assists in providing new behavioural options as well as a new experience of self.

A psychodramatist is a director who is concerned with group and individual psychotherapy, group process, and individual personality change. The emphasis is on personal development and thus there is a focus on developing adequate purposes and goals for living. An assessment is made with the client of their functioning and work in action is done to heal and repair their way of being in the world and so bring about more adequate responses to themselves and to others.

Source:
Auckland Training Centre for Psychodrama.

The Couch This page is the first page i ever saw on the www. Perhaps 1994?

The highlight is finding this: nzepc – new zealand electronic poetry centre There is a range of poetry there, some audio files – I downloaded some mp3s by Fairburn. The site’s layout and design is supurb. This image is one of a series that rotates somehow as one clicks on the site:

NZEPC – A.R.D (Rex) Fairburn

New Zealand literature in the 1940s and 1950s

I browsed second-hand bookshops during lunchtime today and looked at the NZ literary shelves. Picked up Denis Glover’s collection of ARD Fairburn at Smith’s. Followed up tonight with a bit of surfing and found this rather nice site, with some beautiful black and white photos (RAK Mason above) and interesting articles – such as the one this links to which places the book I bought today in context:

The 1930s saw the emergence in New Zealand of a new breed of writers, whose work usually embodied a reaction against established ideas and conventions. Often these writers were influenced by recent trends in literature overseas, notably modernism; and by social and political events such as the Depression. A growing, if narrow, sense of nationalism was expressed, focussing on the dilemma of Pakeha who still looked to England as ‘Home’, but increasingly identified with New Zealand through ties of kinship and daily experience. Some major literary figures of the thirties, including short story writer Frank Sargeson, poets Allen Curnow, A.R.D. Fairburn, Denis Glover and R.A.K. Mason, and Glover’s printer associate Bob Lowry, remained active in the 1940s and 50s.

International Society for Mental Health Online – CCSG: Myths and Realities of Online Clinical Work Very well done. Michael Fenichel again and also John Suler are on the team. See also this Cast Study Group.