Edna Reiss-Sophie Greenberg Chair and Conference
The annual Edna Reiss-Sophie Greenberg Chair and Conference recognizes nationally and internationally known professionals who have made major contributions to the field of infant, child, and adolescent mental health.
The 20th Annual Edna Reiss-Sophie Greenberg Chair and Conference will award Michael Diamond, PhD, for his passion in understanding early childhood development and the importance of the parent child relationship. His pioneering work on reviewing the role and conceptualization of the father and masculinity in psychoanalysis promotes an innovate view of fatherhood responsive to the sociocultural changes in society and promotes both wellbeing and growth for fathers, sons, and family as a whole.
The 20th Annual Edna Reiss-Sophie Greenberg Chair and Conference will award Michael Diamond, PhD, for his passion in understanding early childhood development and the importance of the parent child relationship. His pioneering work on reviewing the role and conceptualization of the father and masculinity in psychoanalysis promotes an innovate view of fatherhood responsive to the sociocultural changes in society and promotes both wellbeing and growth for fathers, sons, and family as a whole.
Current Reflections on Fathering and the Paternal Function
Friday, May 9 at 11:00am-2:30pm
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Friday, May 16 at 11:00am-2:30pm
6 CEUs Total
This two-part presentation will focus on both the symbolic and the actual, flesh-and-blood father and the impact each facet of fathering has on the child’s and the father’s development. While fathers have often been considered appendages of the mother and, within psychoanalytic theorizing, fathering itself has been minimized except in its absence or abusiveness, today, particularly in the realm of child development, clinical practice, and large social groupings, the traditional image of the father as primarily the bearer of power has been challenged. New forms of family and changing gender realities have made their presence felt in the social and clinical landscape. In the course of the two seminars, Dr. Diamond will clarify the nature of the so-called “paternal function,” more accurately termed the “symbolic function,” which signifies that a triadic matrix always exists psychically yet is not intrinsically gendered. Moreover, there is an ever present “father in the mother’s unconscious mind.” Consequently, triangular relations always operate within the mother-child dyad, including across heteronormative, gay or non-binary, and single parenting circumstances. As an embodied other, the actual father or surrogate (regardless of gender), operating as both a protective and attracting object as well as a separating agent serving as the “second other” to the mother, is called upon to recognize the child’s unique otherness. Challenges to fathering arise from inescapable dependencies, desires, rivalries, and absences or neglect.
Dr. Diamond will address how healthy child development entails both so-called “maternal” and “paternal” parenting as well as what is considered the “combined parental couple” that may reside in a single-parent’s internal world (regardless of gender). Particular dynamics arising for fathers with sons and daughters will be discussed, and challenges arising in clinical practice will be illustrated. In recovering the “missing” real father and the paternal function in dyadically-oriented clinical space is often required and illustrated with case material. In addition, participants will be encouraged to share their observations of children and their families as well as relevant vignettes from their clinical practices.
About the Chair
Michael J. Diamond, PhD, FIPA is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS). He is a Fellow of the International Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Clinical Psychology. His major publications are on fathering and the paternal function; masculinity, femininity, and gender theory; trauma and dissociation; psychoanalytic technique and analytic mindedness; hypnosis and altered states; and group processes, political movements, and social action. He has written five books including two focused on fathering: My Father Before Me: How Fathers and Sons Influence Each Other Throughout Their Lives (Norton, 2007); and his co-edited, Becoming A Father: Contemporary Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives (Springer, 1995). He is currently working on a new book on Fathering and the Paternal Function. His most recent books are 2021’s Masculinity and Its Discontents: The Male Psyche and the Inherent Tensions of Maturing Manhood (Routledge) and 2022’s Ruptures in the American Psyche: Containing Destructive Populism in Perilous Times (Karnac/Phoenix Books). He is a well-respected international presenter and the honored recipient of numerous awards for his teaching, writing, and clinical contributions. He has a fulltime clinical practice in Los Angeles, California where he also remains active in teaching, supervising, and writing.
Friday, May 9 at 11:00am-2:30pm
&
Friday, May 16 at 11:00am-2:30pm
6 CEUs Total
This two-part presentation will focus on both the symbolic and the actual, flesh-and-blood father and the impact each facet of fathering has on the child’s and the father’s development. While fathers have often been considered appendages of the mother and, within psychoanalytic theorizing, fathering itself has been minimized except in its absence or abusiveness, today, particularly in the realm of child development, clinical practice, and large social groupings, the traditional image of the father as primarily the bearer of power has been challenged. New forms of family and changing gender realities have made their presence felt in the social and clinical landscape. In the course of the two seminars, Dr. Diamond will clarify the nature of the so-called “paternal function,” more accurately termed the “symbolic function,” which signifies that a triadic matrix always exists psychically yet is not intrinsically gendered. Moreover, there is an ever present “father in the mother’s unconscious mind.” Consequently, triangular relations always operate within the mother-child dyad, including across heteronormative, gay or non-binary, and single parenting circumstances. As an embodied other, the actual father or surrogate (regardless of gender), operating as both a protective and attracting object as well as a separating agent serving as the “second other” to the mother, is called upon to recognize the child’s unique otherness. Challenges to fathering arise from inescapable dependencies, desires, rivalries, and absences or neglect.
Dr. Diamond will address how healthy child development entails both so-called “maternal” and “paternal” parenting as well as what is considered the “combined parental couple” that may reside in a single-parent’s internal world (regardless of gender). Particular dynamics arising for fathers with sons and daughters will be discussed, and challenges arising in clinical practice will be illustrated. In recovering the “missing” real father and the paternal function in dyadically-oriented clinical space is often required and illustrated with case material. In addition, participants will be encouraged to share their observations of children and their families as well as relevant vignettes from their clinical practices.
About the Chair
Michael J. Diamond, PhD, FIPA is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS). He is a Fellow of the International Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Clinical Psychology. His major publications are on fathering and the paternal function; masculinity, femininity, and gender theory; trauma and dissociation; psychoanalytic technique and analytic mindedness; hypnosis and altered states; and group processes, political movements, and social action. He has written five books including two focused on fathering: My Father Before Me: How Fathers and Sons Influence Each Other Throughout Their Lives (Norton, 2007); and his co-edited, Becoming A Father: Contemporary Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives (Springer, 1995). He is currently working on a new book on Fathering and the Paternal Function. His most recent books are 2021’s Masculinity and Its Discontents: The Male Psyche and the Inherent Tensions of Maturing Manhood (Routledge) and 2022’s Ruptures in the American Psyche: Containing Destructive Populism in Perilous Times (Karnac/Phoenix Books). He is a well-respected international presenter and the honored recipient of numerous awards for his teaching, writing, and clinical contributions. He has a fulltime clinical practice in Los Angeles, California where he also remains active in teaching, supervising, and writing.
AWARDees:
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