NOBPC | New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center

Film Series - "X" (2022 horror movie) by Franklin Worell, PhD & Paul Doyen, LMSW
2025-04-06 14:00 - 17:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: This film screening explores the pleasure and fascination we experience when consuming horror movies and true crime media. Presenters will draw from analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory to explain our attraction to what is frightening and uncertain in our world. By identifying horror genres with attempts to resolve our deepest anxieties, presenters will discuss how horror can help us understand both our clients and ourselves.
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 4pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Why do we watch horror movies? Why do we listen to true crime podcasts? Why do we voluntarily expose ourselves to situations that frighten and disturb us?
Come watch Ti West’s classic 2022 horror movie “X” and join us for a discussion of what attracts us to the genre of horror.
Franklin Worell, PhD, will discuss the “paradox of horror,” or the problem of why human beings derive pleasure from negative emotions like fear and disgust. He will review theories in analytic philosophy, challenge the idea that there can be a universal theory of horror and discuss the aesthetic and philosophical pleasures of scaring ourselves.
Paul Doyen, LMSW, will review psychoanalytic explanations for why we pursue uncanny experiences, including the need to master outer dangers and resolve inner conflicts. He will also connect the horror genre to obsessive anxieties and suggest that an interest in horror media may be a hallmark of neuroticism.
Learning Objectives:

Summarize the “paradox of horror” as defined within analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory
Describe the reasons that people choose to pursue experiences that frighten and disgust them
Analyze the relationship between horror and mental health, including connections to neuroticism and psychosis

Dr. Franklin Worell is a former student and professor of philosophy at Tulane University, where he researched and wrote about horror as a genre. Dr. Worell is highly knowledgeable about what is known as the “paradox of horror” within analytic philosophy. His 2022 dissertation, “Peaking Through Our Fingers: Theorizing Horror and its Appeal through its Genres,” critiqued theories of horror as well as proposed its own Aristotelian theory of horror’s appeal.
Paul Doyen, LMSW, is a psychotherapist in psychoanalytic training at the Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. He works in private practice at Garden District Mental Health, where sees several clients who have obsessions and interests involving horror and crime. Paul has a longstanding interest in horror films as well as in psychoanalytic theories around horror and the uncanny.
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 3:50pm 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.
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 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
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:

Hauke, C. (2015). Horror films and the attack on rationality. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 60(5), 736–740. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12181
Simpson, D. (2022). Life on the margins: movement between the ‘Canny’ and the ‘Uncanny’—a requirement for psychic growth. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 39(1), 232–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12803
Worell, F. (2022). Peeking Through Our Fingers: Theorizing Horror and Its Appeal Through Its Genres. Ph. D. Dissertation, Tulane University, 2022. 222 p. (DAI-A 84(1)(E).)
