Instructors: Howard Book, Barbara Williams

The primary task of this course is the introduction to a psychoanalytic perspective on how groups and organizations—like the individuals who are in them—not only have "known," conscious, overt, and rational aspects to how they function, but also powerful "unknown," unconscious, quirky, and irrational dispositions. These unconscious qualities, unrecognized and unacknowledged, risk eroding the organization's capacity for attending its objectives, compromising its members from achieving their professional goals, promoting the emergence of a toxic culture, and encouraging ineffectual decision making. When explored, this unconscious quality can provide organizations a space for creative and innovative encounters and outputs. Most of us as professionals are part of these settings (departments, committees, associations, etc.). The theoretical aspects are taken from the works of Klein, Bion, Menzies, and others.

Learning Goals

• To recognize, understand, and address the three basic-assumption groups as they occur in the workplace
• To identify, understand, and address common social defences against anxiety in the workplace
• To understand, identify, and utilize the workplace phenomenon of self-as-container

For further information, contact Maria Cadilha at info@torontopsychoanalysis.com or 416-922-7770.