Presented by Thomas M. Brod, MD, & Lisa Vitti, PhD

David Lowery’s A Ghost Story stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. Recently deceased, a white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to console his bereft wife, only to find that in his spectral state, he has become unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away. Increasingly unmoored, the ghost embarks on a cosmic journey through memory and history, confronting life's ineffable questions and the enormity of existence.

Learning Objectives

As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:

• Assist patients and clients face the terror of oblivion in the contemplation of death
• Adjust the play therapy technique of projection to help patients and clients deal with processes such as death anxiety and grieving

Thomas Brod, MD, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. He is a senior faculty member at NCP and the co-coordinator of the Film and Mind Series.  He is also on the faculty of the ISTDP Institute (Washington, DC).

Lisa Vitti, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a graduate of the New Center of Psychoanalysis. She maintains a private practice in West Los Angeles and Downtown Los Angeles.  She is also a supervisor at both the Maple Center and the Wright Institute.