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Online Reading Group

Beginning January 14, registered participants log in here to access the discussion with Joye Weisel-Barth.

The Online Reading Group announces an upcoming seminar, "Thinking and Writing about Complexity Theory in the Clinical Setting" with author Joye Weisel-Barth and co-discussants Philip Ringstrom and Larry Ballon. The seminar will be held online from Monday, January 14, 2008 through Monday, February 11, 2008.

From the Editor:
Complexity Theory, or Non-Linear Dynamic Systems Theory, is at the forefront of psychoanalytic discourse of late. But how is this way of thinking useful in the clinical setting? Joye Weisel-Barth offers cogent suggestions in the paper that will be the subject of our discussion. We will also have the opportunity to appreciate Joye's psychoanalytic writing, which I find to have an exceptionally literary and compelling quality. My co-facilitator, Philip Ringstrom, and I look forward to meeting you online!
-Larry Ballon

Summary:
This article is an examination of the usefulness of complexity theory as a model of development and change in the clinical setting. Through the presentation of a clinical case, the article addresses four questions: What is complexity theory? How does adopting a complexity model affect and change one's clinical sensibility? How does a complex sensibility look and feel in the clinical setting? And how can clinical writing capture and convey the context-sensitive, nonlinear, and fluid nature of complexity thinking?

Biography:
Joye Weisel-Barth is a psychologist and senior training and supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. There she teaches courses in Freud, Clinical Writing, and other topics in contemporary psychoanalysis such as Multiple Selves and Complexity Theory. She loves literature and theory, and in her writing she tries to make the analytic experience come alive in clear, colloquial language. Joye participates on the Board of her Institute, on the Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, in a National Study Group of Relational Analysts, and as Book Review Editor of The International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. She has a private practice in Encino, California. Her other loves are music, dogs, and children.

Information for Participants:
There will be a $20 fee to participate. The seminar is free for those participating in an online reading seminar for the first time. Registration is limited to 35 participants, and is open only to IAPSP members. If you are not a member but are interested in joining, click here for an online application.