The Indiana Society for Psychoanalytic Thought (ISPT) is a local chapter of the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association. ISPT is a multi-disciplinary group dedicated to furthering the study and application of broad-based psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and the methods of psychoanalytic inquiry through the sponsorship of conferences, symposia, and workshops on clinical and cultural issues, theoretical papers, and ongoing research by ISPT members and recognized experts in the field.


MONTHLY MEETING

Monday, February 9, 2009:  7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience
By Andrew Klafter, MD

Dr. Klafter, a religiously observant Orthodox Jew, will discuss the interface between psychoanalytic understanding and religious experience. He will focus on how the patient’s and therapist’s religious beliefs impact the treatment process, and how psychotherapy and psychoanalysis affect spirituality, religious beliefs, and religious experience.

Learning Objectives:  Participants will be able to:

1)  identify important areas of potential conflict for patients between their religious beliefs and their experiences receiving psychotherapeutic or psychoanalytic treatment, and implications for psychotherapy technique;

2)  identify important areas of potential conflict for therapists regarding religious beliefs, and describe different ways that religious therapists negotiate such conflicts both in their work, as well as in their spiritual lives and religious experience;

3)  discuss whether psychoanalysis and other psychotherapy modalities are value systems which conflict inherently with religious value systems, or are inherently neutral and as such do not conflict with religious beliefs.


Schedule and Format:  The meeting will begin promptly at 7:30 pm with the introduction of Dr. Klafter. His presentation will be followed by group discussion.

About the Presenter

Dr. Andrew Klafter is the Director of Psychotherapy Training at the University of Cincinnati Psychiatry Residency Training Program, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He maintains a private practice in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and supervision. Dr. Klafter received his MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed his specialty training in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, where he also served as Chief Resident.

All monthly meetings of ISPT are held on the 2nd Monday of each month at the following location unless otherwise noted on the events calendar:

Christian Theological Seminary
Counseling Center, 3rd Floor
1050 West 42nd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317.924.5205

Directions to CTS