Film Series: Under the Skin presented by Travis Tanner, PhD, LMSW, ASW

2023-2024 Film Series: Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Horror, Pathology and Reframing Perversion

Our screening series will introduce mental health professionals to psychoanalytic concepts and research around sexuality, trauma, and uncanny experiences. Participants will watch psychosexually themed films and participate in professional-led discussions analyzing the material in terms of psychopathology and treatment.

Screening begins at 1pm Central Time at NOBPC
Discussion begins at 3pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom

”Or should one recognize that one becomes a foreigner in another country because one is already a foreigner from within?” – Julia Kristeva

It seems everywhere we look today, the enemy is coming for us. It is any person marked as a foreigner–an “other”–to an established (and safe) way of life. Think of the black teen, the immigrant worker, or the trans student who is deemed a threat to this order and targeted for punishment. But as the psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva reminds us, the foreigner doesn’t come from without but arises from within, for we are all strangers to ourselves.

Our discussion of the Under the Skin screening will introduce viewers to the psychoanalytic notion of alienation from humanist (classical Freudian and relational theory) and posthumanist (contemporary French psychoanalytic) perspectives. Under the Skin follows an alien (played by Scarlett Johansson) and the people and places she encounters on earth. The film explores the boundaries of self-other against the backdrop of sexuality and violence, and queries how to represent the unrepresentable dimensions of the life and death drives. Participants will be asked to reflect on and discuss how these ideas relate to our clinical and research practices.

Learning Objectives:
• To differentiate between repression, dissociation, and unformulated experiences
• To understand Freud’s concepts of life/death drive, and instincts and their vicissitudes
• To understand the relationship between pleasure/unpleasure

Travis Tanner, PhD, LMSW, ASW works with adolescents and young adults in a psychoanalytically-informed treatment center in Los Angeles. He is an Advanced Candidate in the Adult and Child Psychoanalytic Training Program at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles.

**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 2:55pm or join the Zoom link.

The film is available on most streaming services.

Attendance is free but pre-register by emailing nobpcenter@gmail.com.

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

1 CME credit is $10 for NOBPC members and $15 for non-members.

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 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
-Updated July 2021-

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.