Educating Dallas Mental Health Professionals
Tools to Help Understand Human Experience
Exploring and promoting psychoanalytic theory and its applications as a basis for understanding human experience and for various forms of psychotherapy. DSPP's members come from a number of mental health fields.
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2022-2023 Program Year
Reinterpreting & Reconstructing
Exploring Novel Perspectives in Psychoanalysis
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For Researchers
Read papers authored by members on topics related to psychoanalytic studies.
DSPP 2022-2023 Program Year Welcome Message
Dear Colleagues,
My name is Adam Hinshaw, and I am writing to introduce myself as DSPP president and to introduce the DSPP programming year for 2022-2023.
Originally a Dallas native and now a psychologist in private practice, I returned to Dallas in August 2019 after living away for fifteen years. During that time I was studying English, psychology, and philosophy at Bucknell University, then after two years of mixed part time jobs and failed attempts at writing a novel, I managed to get admitted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Ph.D. program in counseling psychology. Around then, I came across psychoanalysis at the APA conference in 2012, entranced by a presentation Robert Stolorow gave. I saw in psychoanalysis a way of understanding that blended the literary and scientific and that would occupy much of my life.
Soon after, I became a patient in analysis. I had to become "analyzed," to understand what analysis really was, to obtain the "answers" psychoanalysis could provide, that it should provide, and therefore to help me feel less bad, depressed, and anxious. Of course, my personal experience of psychoanalysis delivered on symptom reduction and has helped me be with patients. Otherwise, it has given me none of the things I wanted it to: any "answers" have been circumstantial solutions; I've given up on feeling "analyzed"; and I doubt I could put together a once-and-for-all account of what analysis really is (let alone my own). But it has helped me appreciate and enjoy the uncertainty of life, to feel less convinced of myself. It has been a strange cure. I would say it has been a cure through disillusionment, yet I don't feel disillusioned at all. I feel curious.
I was given permission by the DSPP Board to indulge myself in designing the 2022-2023 programming year. In that spirit, I invite you all to indulge with me in curiosity - curiosity of the new, potentially challenging perspectives to how we think about psychoanalysis. "Reinterpreting and Reconstructing: Exploring Novel Perspectives in Psychoanalysis" will be the theme of our 2022-2023 program year.
It might be argued that psychoanalysis is always, to some degree or another, an exploration and engagement with novelty. While some clinical encounters follow a relatively common course according to one conceptual view or another, it would be disingenuous to say they perfectly accommodate theory, the intentions of technique, the story arc of case studies, and the image of precision in quantitative research. If anything, the only guarantee is that every clinical encounter will buck the trend in some fashion. Theory and research reflects this, too. To name a few, isn't Klein a reinterpretation of Freud's pre-Oedipal stages, Kohut a reinterpretation of the object-relational approach to narcissism and the self, and the relational movement a reworking of technique concerning the transference? Revision can be painful and jarring, but it can also open up inspiration for the challenges of the present and a finer, more renewed appreciation and use for what came before. In my program year, we will work to reinterpret and reconstruct how we understand psychoanalytic theory and practice. We hope that you will join us on this journey!
In regard to the pandemic, DSPP is continuing to evaluate the ability to meet safely in this post-pandemic world, which has changed many conventions in our lives. We hope to offer a blend of in-person and Zoom-based presentations this year and will keep membership updated regularly about the location of meetings.
Please be on the lookout over the next few weeks for information about membership renewal and sign-ups for events!
Best,
Adam Breakey Hinshaw, PhD
DSPP President 2022-2023
My name is Adam Hinshaw, and I am writing to introduce myself as DSPP president and to introduce the DSPP programming year for 2022-2023.
Originally a Dallas native and now a psychologist in private practice, I returned to Dallas in August 2019 after living away for fifteen years. During that time I was studying English, psychology, and philosophy at Bucknell University, then after two years of mixed part time jobs and failed attempts at writing a novel, I managed to get admitted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Ph.D. program in counseling psychology. Around then, I came across psychoanalysis at the APA conference in 2012, entranced by a presentation Robert Stolorow gave. I saw in psychoanalysis a way of understanding that blended the literary and scientific and that would occupy much of my life.
Soon after, I became a patient in analysis. I had to become "analyzed," to understand what analysis really was, to obtain the "answers" psychoanalysis could provide, that it should provide, and therefore to help me feel less bad, depressed, and anxious. Of course, my personal experience of psychoanalysis delivered on symptom reduction and has helped me be with patients. Otherwise, it has given me none of the things I wanted it to: any "answers" have been circumstantial solutions; I've given up on feeling "analyzed"; and I doubt I could put together a once-and-for-all account of what analysis really is (let alone my own). But it has helped me appreciate and enjoy the uncertainty of life, to feel less convinced of myself. It has been a strange cure. I would say it has been a cure through disillusionment, yet I don't feel disillusioned at all. I feel curious.
I was given permission by the DSPP Board to indulge myself in designing the 2022-2023 programming year. In that spirit, I invite you all to indulge with me in curiosity - curiosity of the new, potentially challenging perspectives to how we think about psychoanalysis. "Reinterpreting and Reconstructing: Exploring Novel Perspectives in Psychoanalysis" will be the theme of our 2022-2023 program year.
It might be argued that psychoanalysis is always, to some degree or another, an exploration and engagement with novelty. While some clinical encounters follow a relatively common course according to one conceptual view or another, it would be disingenuous to say they perfectly accommodate theory, the intentions of technique, the story arc of case studies, and the image of precision in quantitative research. If anything, the only guarantee is that every clinical encounter will buck the trend in some fashion. Theory and research reflects this, too. To name a few, isn't Klein a reinterpretation of Freud's pre-Oedipal stages, Kohut a reinterpretation of the object-relational approach to narcissism and the self, and the relational movement a reworking of technique concerning the transference? Revision can be painful and jarring, but it can also open up inspiration for the challenges of the present and a finer, more renewed appreciation and use for what came before. In my program year, we will work to reinterpret and reconstruct how we understand psychoanalytic theory and practice. We hope that you will join us on this journey!
In regard to the pandemic, DSPP is continuing to evaluate the ability to meet safely in this post-pandemic world, which has changed many conventions in our lives. We hope to offer a blend of in-person and Zoom-based presentations this year and will keep membership updated regularly about the location of meetings.
Please be on the lookout over the next few weeks for information about membership renewal and sign-ups for events!
Best,
Adam Breakey Hinshaw, PhD
DSPP President 2022-2023
American Psychological Association and President-Trio of Division 39 Release Statements on Issues of Racism and Social Justice
APA Press Release: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/06/police-partnerships
Email from Division 39 President-Trio to Membership:
Dear Division 39 members,
We wanted to write to you in light of recent events concerning the shocking killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, other recent deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, and the subsequent protests. We wish we had words to adequately express the outrage and horror that we've been feeling. Not only are the police afforded a unique role and level of power in our society, but they also receive special protections, including, at a structural level, qualified immunity. Therefore, it is essential to add our voices to those warning about the dangers of unchecked policing power and the resistance at many levels of government to oversight of that power.
As psychoanalysts, we acknowledge the ubiquity of unconscious influences in ourselves and others, including unconscious racial biases, in addition to conscious and overt biases. Because of these biases, it is incumbent upon society to have appropriate oversight of the powerful organizations, which are entrusted with the enforcement of laws across the country. The death of George Floyd is but the latest example of the risks such power can have.
Our Executive Committee has discussed issuing a Division statement about this. We highly value statements, but the institutional processes would take longer than we were comfortable with and instead agreed that the presidential trio could communicate to members more quickly, albeit still not quickly enough. Our discussion has led us to reflect upon the need to examine ourselves more critically and how we, as a Division, can create a more inclusive functioning group that does not recapitulate the systemic racism we are criticizing the police for.
The EC is discussing the value of having outside consultation to assist us in examining our processes in order to lead us to become an organization that leads in equality. We will be seeking various modes of input from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) so we ensure that we can create the foundations for a diverse governing and membership body. Toward that end, we will take a concrete step. It is admittedly small, but a beginning.
Barry will step aside from the Mission & Goals task force and appoint someone in his place to expand the diversity membership for the task force. This task force aims to help the organization clarify and carry out our mission and goals and thus addresses the most fundamental aims of SPPP. As such, we feel it is important that a member of the "old guard" willingly relinquish such a role in order to improve the perspectives considered by the task force and better represent the future of the organization.
We will detail our attempts to create a more egalitarian group as soon as we are able.
Barry Dauphin, PhD, ABPP
President SPPP
Dennis Debiak, PsyD
Past President SPPP
Joe Schaller, PsyD
President Elect SPPP
Email from Division 39 President-Trio to Membership:
Dear Division 39 members,
We wanted to write to you in light of recent events concerning the shocking killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, other recent deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, and the subsequent protests. We wish we had words to adequately express the outrage and horror that we've been feeling. Not only are the police afforded a unique role and level of power in our society, but they also receive special protections, including, at a structural level, qualified immunity. Therefore, it is essential to add our voices to those warning about the dangers of unchecked policing power and the resistance at many levels of government to oversight of that power.
As psychoanalysts, we acknowledge the ubiquity of unconscious influences in ourselves and others, including unconscious racial biases, in addition to conscious and overt biases. Because of these biases, it is incumbent upon society to have appropriate oversight of the powerful organizations, which are entrusted with the enforcement of laws across the country. The death of George Floyd is but the latest example of the risks such power can have.
Our Executive Committee has discussed issuing a Division statement about this. We highly value statements, but the institutional processes would take longer than we were comfortable with and instead agreed that the presidential trio could communicate to members more quickly, albeit still not quickly enough. Our discussion has led us to reflect upon the need to examine ourselves more critically and how we, as a Division, can create a more inclusive functioning group that does not recapitulate the systemic racism we are criticizing the police for.
The EC is discussing the value of having outside consultation to assist us in examining our processes in order to lead us to become an organization that leads in equality. We will be seeking various modes of input from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) so we ensure that we can create the foundations for a diverse governing and membership body. Toward that end, we will take a concrete step. It is admittedly small, but a beginning.
Barry will step aside from the Mission & Goals task force and appoint someone in his place to expand the diversity membership for the task force. This task force aims to help the organization clarify and carry out our mission and goals and thus addresses the most fundamental aims of SPPP. As such, we feel it is important that a member of the "old guard" willingly relinquish such a role in order to improve the perspectives considered by the task force and better represent the future of the organization.
We will detail our attempts to create a more egalitarian group as soon as we are able.
Barry Dauphin, PhD, ABPP
President SPPP
Dennis Debiak, PsyD
Past President SPPP
Joe Schaller, PsyD
President Elect SPPP