Special Programs

Scientific Meetings
Mission Statement

As an outreach educational arm of the New Center for Psychoanalysis, Extension Division offers educational programs - classes, lectures, seminars, case discussions, film series, and more - intended to augment clinical skills for mental health professionals and to enhance understanding of psychoanalytic theory and practice.

Consistent with the mission of the New Center, the Extension Division courses cover the range of psychoanalytic perspectives and are offered in a spirit of open inquiry. Its courses are taught with an emphasis on an interactive educational approach.

2008 Franz Alexander Lecture

Catch Them Before They Fall: Patients on the Verge of Mental Breakdown



Through the use of clinical vignettes and personal reflections Dr. Bollas will discuss how analysts can treat patients on the verge of mental breakdown. He will discuss the criteria for assessment of imminent breakdown, the change in the analytical frame that is intended to deal with the requirements of outpatient treatment, and the ways in which the requirements can be put to the analysand. The talk will address how and in what ways an increase in psychoanalysis is often more effective than either psychotropic intervention and/or hospitalization. The likelihood that conventional medical interventions may repeat the conditions that supported a “basic fault” in the analysand’s early childhood will be considered.



Course Objectives

Presenter