The Katonah Village Library is pleased to present “Whatever Happened to the Blank Screen? When Psychoanalysts Write Memoirs” on Wednesday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m.
It has been relatively rare in the history of psychoanalysis for psychoanalysts to publish memoirs. Fern W. Cohen, PhD (From Both Sides of the Couch, Booksurge2007), and Sue Erikson Bloland, LCSW (In the Shadow of Fame, Viking Penguin 2005), two New York City analysts who have, will talk about the impact their self-revealing books have had on their personal lives, on their clinical work, and on their careers as psychoanalysts.
As it happens, each chronicles the experience of growing up in the shadow of a very prominent father whose idealized public image posed a threat to her sense of self -worth. Fern’s father was the esteemed jurist, Edward Weinfeld, appointed to the federal court for the Southern District of New York by President Truman in 1950. Sue’s father was the renowned psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson.
Sue Erikson Bloland, LCSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice and a member of the faculty of the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis in New York City. She received her MSW from New York University and her analytic training at the Manhattan Institute. The daughter of celebrated psychoanalyst and author Erik H. Erikson, Ms. Bloland has made a life-long study of the nature of fame. Her memoir, In the Shadow of Fame, was published by Viking Penguin in February 2005. She has also published articles in The Atlantic Monthly (“Fame: The Power and Cost of a Fantasy,” November, 1999), and Psychoanalytic Dialogues (“Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy: The Dark Side of Charisma,” March/April, 2000).
Fern W. Cohen, PhD, a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in private practice in New York City, has long been committed to conveying in everyday language what the psychoanalytic process is about and how it works. That passion informs not only her writing, both personal and professional, but also her teaching and supervision of graduate students and analytic candidates.
In her memoir, From Both Sides of the Couch, Dr. Cohen explores the defining nature of our earliest relationships and the transformative workings of psychoanalysis to “free us from our ghosts.” She brings a clinical perspective to her resonant personal journey to come out from under the weight of her remarkable father and become her own person, a journey we all share. From Both Sides of the Couch has been named a winner in the psychology category of the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Dr. Cohen received a PhD in School Psychology from NYU. She completed her analytic training at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis as well as at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR), of which she is a member.
This program is free and open to the public.
For further information, please contact the library at 914-232-3508.
