Film Series: The Lost Daughter by Liora Diamond, LPC

The Lost Daughter :

If Autonomy Is Reactive, What Do We Do?

Psychoanalysis and Cinema: uses the immersive power of cinema to explore the complex interplay between internal psychic life and external social structures. Although patients routinely grapple with authoritarian social demands, theory alone can mistakenly reduce them to passive objects of social control. Cinema bridges this gap by bringing the intricate, messy realities of human agency to life. Through this cinematic lens, mental health professionals can better analyze the psychological underpinnings of aggression and control, helping us understand where true freedom and psychological traps reside within the unique particularities of a patient’s life.

Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC

Discussion begins at 4:20pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom

One of the mains aims of psychoanalytic therapy is to help our clients achieve autonomy and self-determination. As clinicians we tend to be sensitive to the oppressive, even authoritarian, demands that constrain our patients’ lives. And yet, theories of social control can make our clients seem more passive and less complex than they are. Psychoanalytic theory reminds us that people can be oppressed by rigid social demands in one area, like mothering a child or navigating a career, while seeing threats to their autonomy where they are less likely to exist.

The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s 2021 directorial debut, depicts a few days in a woman’s vacation threaded with flashbacks to her earlier life as a mother of two young daughters. As we follow this character through a hazy, sometimes disturbing, sometimes amusing sequence of events, the director explores themes of aggression, maternal ambivalence, and transgressive acts.

The main character, Leda, defies categorization and seems to be morally ambiguous. Refusing to paint her as a victim or an aggressor, Gyllenhaal guides us toward the open-ended questions we might ask a new patient: In what context do her actions make sense? What is she evoking? What is she repeating? Where is her freedom? What are her traps?

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the psychological underpinnings of aggression, rebellion, control and nurturance from a psychodynamic perspective.
• Apply sociopolitical context and theories about power, patriarchy, social roles and the rule of law.
• Examine ideas related to subjugation, autonomy, reaction formation situated within the particularities of an individual’s unique life and choices .

Liora Diamond, M.S., LPC, works as a therapist for individuals and couples in New Orleans. Her professional interests include systems, the unconscious, and culture as related to the individual experience. She has loved high and low-brow films and TV for as long as she can remember.

Attendance is free but pre-register HERE

Please click HERE for registration with CME credits. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.

Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

• NOBPC members $10
• Non-members $15

In-person space is limited so please register early.

If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining. If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 4:10pm or join the Zoom link.

The film is available to rent on several streaming services.

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.

ACCME Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Optional Readings:

• Fritsch, E. (2021) Maternal Desire: On Children, Love, and the Inner Life. 2nd ed. By Daphne de Marneffe. New York: Scribner, 2019, xiv + 291 pp., $18.00 paperback.. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 69:1223-1228
• Galioto, E. D. (2019) Maternal ambivalence in the novel and film We Need to Talk About Kevin. Psychoanalysis Culture and Society 24:132-150
• Zuckerman, J. R. (2019) Nasty Women: Toward a New Narrative on Female Aggression. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 55:214-251