Elliott Jurist, PhD, uses memoir as a way to understand how patients experience therapy. Memoirs provide an unexplored place to hear from patients, separate from professional opinion. Drawing from diverse sources, Dr. Jurist argues that some memoirists see therapy as transformative, but others are equivocal or even negative. He also reflects upon how our beliefs about therapy have changed from the post-war era to today. The memoirists whom he address are Lucy Freeman, Rachel Reiland, Alison Bechdel, Melissa Febos, Hua Hsu, and Stephanie Foo.
Indulgences
Learning about Therapy from Memoir
Presented by: Elliott Jurist, PhD
Agenda
- 7:30 – 7:35 pm Introduction
- 7:35 – 8:30 pm Presentation
- 8:30 – 9:00 pm Question and answer session
Learning Objectives
- Describe and compare the relation between memoir and psychotherapy: how they are similar and how they differ.
- Summarize and assess how psychotherapy has changed in the post-war era to the present.
- Summarize and assess how the various memoirists characterize their experience in psychotherapy.
Presenter
Elliott Jurist, PhD
Elliot Jurist, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at the Graduate Center and The City College of New York, CUNY. From 2004-2013, he served as the Director of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at CUNY. From 2008-2018, he was the Editor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, the journal of Division 39 of the APA. He is also the editor of a book series, Psychoanalysis and Psychological Science, from Guilford Publications, and author of a book in the series, Minding Emotions: Cultivating Mentalization in Psychotherapy, from the same publisher (the book has been translated into Italian, Chinese and Spanish, and was named best theoretical book in 2019 by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis). He is the author of Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche: Philosophy, Culture and Agency (MIT Press, 2000) and co-author with Peter Fonagy, George Gergely and Mary Target of Affect Regulation, Mentalization and the Development of the Self (Other Press, 2002), the latter of which has been translated into five languages and won two book prizes. He is also the co-editor of Mind to Mind: Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis (Other Press, 2008). His research interests concern mentalization and the role of emotions and emotion regulation in psychotherapy. In 2014, he received the Scholarship Award from Division 39 of the APA, and in 2024, he was given the Leadership award from the same organization. Recently, he is co-author with Norka Malberg, Jordan Bate and Mark Dangerfield of Working with Parents Across the Lifespan: A Mentalization-Informed Approach (APA Publications, 2023). Along with his wife and two children, he lives with two ancient, insubordinate dachshunds, one of whom smiles.
Moderator
Ellen Safier, LCSW
Ellen Safier, LCSW is a clinical social worker and psychotherapist working with individuals, couples and families and a special appreciation for work with adult daughters and their mothers. She is currently faculty in family therapy in the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct faculty in the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. She has advanced training in Mentalization Based Family Therapy and has presented locally and nationally.
References
Jurist, E. (2018). Minding emotions: Cultivating mentalization in psychotherapy. Guilford Press.
Jurist, E., Bate, J., & Pizziferro, M. (2024). Epistemic trust and mentalized affectivity in working with parents in therapy: A mentalization-based approach. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 23(3), 191–204.
Greenberg, D., Kolassi, J., Hegsted, C., & Berkowitz, Y. (2017). Mentalized affectivity: A new model and scale of emotion regulation. PLOS ONE, 12(10), e0185264. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185264