Tennessee Williams’ Emotional Suffering and Insights from “A Streetcar Named Desire” by W. Scott Griffies, M.D. (Psychoanalysis and Culture)

Sponsored by The Svenson Lectureship Fund for Psychoanalysis and the Arts in collaboration with Xavier University of Louisiana and The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is considered to be one of the greatest literary artists of the 20th century. His genius as a playwright, however did not save him from tragic emotional suffering in his life. Throughout his life, he struggled with deep and painful anxiety, depression, hypochondriasis and self-destructive addiction. His plays contained themes of desperate loneliness, human disconnectedness and victimization between the powerful and the weak. Of his plays, A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most compelling representations of the intense emotional conflicts within him.
He sought psychoanalytic treatment during his life but without success. He said that his psychoanalysis gave him great insight into his problems but no direction as to what to do about his inner struggles.
Williams died from drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 72 alone in his favorite New York hotel Elysee, which he nicknamed “the Easy Lay” because of the ease of his many sexual encounters there.
Dr. Griffies considers Williams as he might present to our current counseling room seeking treatment. After clarifying his presenting symptoms and illness, past psychiatric and social history, Dr. Griffies looks at Streetcar as one might look a patient’s dream, then considers whether a neuropsychodynamic formulation might offer benefits in addressing possible difficulties in engaging Williams in treatment. Williams’ brilliant capacity to symbolically express his intrapsychic conflicts within his art gives us an opportunity to perform a post-mortem psychobiographical analysis. Although there are many possible contemporary psychoanalytic approaches that could be discussed, this paper focuses on how a neuropsychoanalytic perspective might be useful.
Educational Objectives: List three emotional themes commonly displayed in the plays of Tennessee Williams, describe Williams’ core intrapsychic conflicts and defenses, and describe how a neuropsychoanalytic approach might be used to engage and treat patients such as Williams.

REGISTRATION FORM

Admission is Free. Fee for 2 CME credits: $30 for NOBPC members; $50 non-members

PAYPAL LINK

W. Scott Griffies M.D., DFAPA, is currently an Associate Professor of Psychiatry with Duke Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Medical Director of the Psychosomatic Medicine service at Duke Raleigh Hospital. He is boarded in Otolaryngology-HNS, General Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and is certified in psychoanalysis from the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Institute. In 2015, he relocated to Duke from New Orleans where he was faculty at LSU Department of Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship and served as the LSU Psychiatry Residency Director. While in New Orleans, he lived in the French Quarter behind Tennessee Williams’ prior home.

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. The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFOR-MATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose. PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SOCIAL WORKERS MAY RECEIVE CREDIT FOR THIS ACTIVITY WITH A CME CERTIFICATE.