REFLECTIONS ON THE DYNAMICS OF SHAME WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PATHOLOGICAL NARCISSISM
by Elgan Baker, HSPP

Monday, April 14, 2008
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Workshop Description

Dr. Baker’s presentation will examine the relationship between shame and guilt and explore the dynamics of shame in relation to structural vulnerability and pre-neurotic arrest. Case material and clinical vignettes will be presented to demonstrate the role of shame in narcissistic pathology and its role in the development of false self defensive structures.  Shame as a core affect in post modern culture will be discussed as a replacement for the core construct of guilt in original Freudian and Neo- Freudian models of psychopathology and pathogenesis along with the impact of this shift on current paradigms of psychoanalytic thought. 
 

Learning Objectives:  Participants will learn to:

1)  Describe the way that shame contributes to structural vulnerability and pre-neurotic arrest.
2)  Describe several ways in which shame manifests itself as a core affect in post modern culture.
3)  Discuss the shift in psychoanalytic paradigms from the use of guilt as the core construct, to that of shame.

About the Presenter

Elgan Baker received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tennessee in 1976, after completing an internship at the University of Colorado Medical School. He received his psychoanalytic training at the Houston Psychoanalytic Institute. He is past President of the Indiana Society for Psychoanalysis. He is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology, in Clinical Hypnosis, and in Forensic Psychology, and a Fellow of the APA, the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. He served as Director of the Indiana Center for Psychoanalysis from 1988-2000. He has also served in the governance of numerous divisions of the APA for the past 25 years. He is currently in private practice at Meridian Psychological Associates in Indianapolis. He also serves as Adjunct Professor for the Department of Psychology at the University of Indianapolis.

Dr. Baker’s published work has focused primarily on the applications of object relations theory to various clinical problems and aspects of the therapeutic process. He has also written extensively about hypnoanalysis and the integration of psychoanalytic theory with hypnotic phenomenology. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field, and has recently been honored with the Hans Strupp Award for Outstanding Contributions to Psychoanalysis, 2007.