Language Strangeness at the Core of Psychoanalysis: The Educator, The Artist, and The Hiker Scientific Conference In-person or Zoom by John Rosegrant, PhD
2026-03-21 10:30 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Language Strangeness at the Core of Psychoanalysis: The Educator, The Artist, and The Hiker
John Rosegrant, PhD
10:30am – 12:30pm Central Time
2 In-person Clinical continuing education credits available
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.
Participation is open to all. Attendees will receive a 2-hour CME certificate. This is a hybrid event. In-person space is limited so please register early and use the early registration discount through March 4.
The “talking” part of the talking cure is strange. Often we encounter patients who want to hear from us but don’t like what we say, or want us to stop talking when they seem most in need of our help. And often patients wish we would understand them but don’t want to say anything, or at least not anything about what they most want us to understand.
We will look at clinical material with the help of an imaginary educator, an imaginary artist, and an imaginary hiker, to explore how Freud, infant researchers, and Lacan understand this strangeness. We will identify a fundamental uneasiness and alienation between language and nonverbal parts of the mind, and think about how to address clinically the problems this creates.
Learning Objectives:

Examine the fears that make it difficult for patients to talk about what is most important to them
Examine what makes patients afraid to hear from their therapists about what is most important to them
Summarize how Freud, infant researchers, and Lacan understand these fears

John Rosegrant, Ph.D. trained in Adult and Child & Adolescent Psychoanalysis at the Contemporary Freudian Society in New York City and is on the Faculty and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center. He is a highly experienced clinician who has published and presented on psychoanalytic technique, psychoanalytic theory, play therapy, dreams, fairy tales, and fantasy literature, including a psychoanalytic investigation of the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien, “Tolkien, Enchantment, and Loss”. Dr. Rosegrant is on the Editorial Boards of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Psychanalytic Psychology, and The Journal of Ursula K. LeGuin Studies, and is the Reviews Editor of Mythlore, a journal of fantasy literature.
Registration Information (includes 2 CME credits)
Advance registration is required. Please click HERE to register online. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, March 20 at Noon Central Time.
In person at NOBPC, 3624 Coliseum St , New Orleans, LA 70115
Early Registration Discount by March 4, 2026:
NOBPC Members: $40
Non-members: $85
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
AFTER March 4 and BEFORE March 14:
NOBPC Members: $55
Non-members: $100
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Week of Registration Fees:
NOBPC Members: $70
Non-members: $115
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Optional Readings:

Bucci, W. (2018) The Primary Process as a Transitional Concept: New Perspectives from Cognitive Psychology and Affective Neuroscience. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 38:198-209
Busch, F. (2016) Methods of Understanding: Revisions to a Freudian Method. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 36:548-557
Fink, B. (2019) On the value of the Lacanian approach to analytic practice. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 100:315-332

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.
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.

Film Series: Phantom Thread by Jon Dimond, PhD
2026-06-27 14:00 - 18:00 | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Maybe He’s the Most Demanding Man:
Authoritarian Ambivalence and The Wounded Patriarch
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Many psychotherapists struggle to understand the dynamics of power and control that emerge with their obsessive clients. Other therapists recognize these dynamics but fail to see the defensive operations, destructive pleasures and hidden vulnerabilities within these complex games of control. A psychoanalytic account of the authoritarian personality can help clinicians understand both the conflicted minds of their patients and the pathologies of our political moment.
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 4:30pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread (2017) is a taught psychological drama surrounding a meticulous couturier, Reynolds Woodcock, whose need for absolute control over his life, art, and relationships is disrupted when Alma enters his world and refuses to follow the leader. Their relationship unfolds as a battle of power and dependency, with rituals, manipulation, and emotional bids used to secure dominance and intimacy. The film examines how control can be both thrilling and destructive, revealing the compromises and corrosive obsessions that sustain their singular bond.
Drawing from the works of Sigmund Freud (Civilization and its Discontents), Wilhelm Reich (The Mass Psychology of Fascism), David Shapiro (Neurotic Styles), and Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Strongmen: How They Rise, Why They Succeed, How They Fall), we will review Phantom Thread as an illustration of the confounding phenomenology of The Strongman. Through this discussion, participants will be invited to apply psychoanalytic principles to better understand how a character structure organized around obsessiveness, dominance, and relentless control can at the same time be so vulnerable, emotionally reactive, and prone to surrender. Utilizing this lens, the dramatic reversal depicted in the film’s finale may be more inevitable than shocking.
Learning Objectives:

Examine the power dynamics between Alma and Reynolds Woodcock utilizing Reich’s conceptualization of authoritarian character structure
Apply Freud’s concept of the Pleasure Principle to an enhanced understanding of the ambivalent unconscious psychodynamics of authoritarian character structure
Explain the allure of the Strongman and its relationship to the obsessive personality

Dr. Jon Dimond received his doctorate in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research in New York City. Although his practice is broadly oriented toward general adult psychotherapy, he has specialized training in treatments for severe personality disorders and trauma. Dr. Dimond additionally has an extensive research and clinical background working with individuals who identify as transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary.
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 4:20pm 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:

Bergstein, A. (2016). Obsessionality. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 64(5), 969–996.
Funk, R. (2024) On the Psychodynamics of Right-Wing Populism: A Frommian Perspective. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 44:37-44
Rizzolo, G. (2023). Obsessions and compulsions: A lifespan perspective. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71(3), 445–487

Nomen est Omen: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Names by Mikita Brottman, D.Phil
2026-07-11 11:00 - 12:30
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.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Psychotherapists do not always consider the importance of names in their work. Yet a name can carry secret wishes, internal conflicts, transgenerational traumas, and hidden identifications.
Mikita Brottman, PhD, will present on her paper, “Nomen Est Omen: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Names.” She will discuss how personal names and naming are shaped by unconscious dynamics, implicit associations, cultural influences, and relationships to parents. Dr. Brottman will also analyze associations with certain names, names in relation to the structure of the ego, and the use of names in clinical practice.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the significance of names within psychoanalysis and in the inner lives of their patients.
Mikita Brottman is Professor of Literature at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She has a D.Phil from Oxford University in English Language and Literature and is an NAAP certified psychoanalyst. She performs forensic evaluations for the National Institute for the study, prevention and treatment of sexual trauma. She is also the author of 15 nonfiction books, the latest of which, Guilty Creatures (Simon & Schuster, 2024) was described by the New York Times as “an unputdownable read”.
Learning Objectives:

Describe the relevance and significance of naming in clinical practice
Analyze how personal naming choices and resistance to naming conventions can reflect unconscious conflicts, desires, and cultural identifications
Identify opportunities within clinical practice to explore naming as a symbolic act that reveals transgenerational themes, identity formation, and relational dynamics

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $25
Non-members $35
Students $10

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.
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:

Knight, Z. G. (2018). “Speaking the names” of family as “speaking a place.” British Journal of Psychotherapy, 34(3), 428–442.
Yadin, Z. S. (2016). Analyzing the patient’s first name in the search for identity. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 52(4), 547–577.
Waska, R. (2025). Name it, claim it, tame it: Modern Kleinian therapy and the challenge of change. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85, 454–474.

Film Series: Mommie Dearest by Laura McMaster, LMFT
2026-07-25 14:00 - 18:00 | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Joan’s Wire Hangers:
Reconciling that Recollection is the Best Fake We Have on Hand
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Many psychotherapists struggle to reconstruct patients’ early life stories and parse external reality from unconscious phantasies. This challenge is further complicated by pervasive images, prejudices, and power dynamics that imbue even the most private traumas with cultural meanings. To bridge this gap, clinicians look to cinema and culture to see how macro-level dynamics reshape internal psychic reality. A psychoanalytic account of the authoritarian personality helps move beyond traditional intrapsychic models to understand how societal trauma intertwines with private trauma. This program helps practitioners develop clinical skills to deconstruct how these broader cultural narratives dictate what a patient remembers, represses, or replicates within the transference relationship.
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 4:30pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Mommie Dearest (1981), the outrageous and ill-fated biopic, takes a bold, haphazard stab at portraying the career and private life of Joan Crawford. Based on the Hollywood tell-all of the same name written by Joan’s reportedly abused eldest daughter Christina Crawford, viewers are concurrently introduced to a cinematic plot and a series of what we might gently call artistic misfires. Joan Crawford (1906—1977) likely had a lot to say about standing up to authoritarianism, having pushed ahead a career and a personal life when studio executives and McCarthy-era politics would have had it otherwise. Over the course of the biopic, we get a rare opportunity to examine a fundamentally interesting woman portrayed by an artistic team who might have loved and hated her at the same time, not so different from the author of the source material.
In Freud’s 1896 letter to Fleiss Freud wrote “Memory is present not once but several times over, that it is laid down in various kinds of indications,” a remark which builds the bridge to the film’s second life. Mommie Dearest entered the cultural lexicon of drag, and a love for Joan was re-born through the lens of gay male spectators, who portrayed the power and the persona of an actress, a mother, and a diva in clubs, on stage, and even recently in a drag musical. By re-working the film’s most memorable scenes, drag brings the viewer back to affection for this challenging story by turning the 1981 film into a point of reference, less of a perfectly reliable source of what really happened.
Learning Objectives:

Discuss the psychotherapeutic dilemma of not being able to access the original truth of any report, despite a collective want to stand up to oppressive powers and to meet guidelines for ethical practice.
Examine Brett Farmer’s remarks from Spectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male Spectatorship in which the author explores pre-Oedipal states achieved from identifying with strong female movie stars
Summarize how certain tropes and images transmute over time from real life to drag and what the art form has the potential to advance through spectacle

Laura McMaster, Msc, LMFT works as a psychotherapist for individuals and couples. She holds a Masters in Anthropology and has been a lifelong patron of the arts. She has appreciated developing personal interests in French culture and language for the past 10 years. Laura and her family have relocated to New Orleans where they have enjoyed a warm and vibrant welcome.
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 4:20pm 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:

Laufer, B. (2024). Shadow maternal subjectivities. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 21(3), 349–372. https://doi.org/10.1080/1551806X.2024.2375974
Gherovici, P., & Steinkoler, M. (Eds.). (2023). Psychoanalysis, gender, and sexualities: From feminism to trans*. Routledge
Leavitt, J. (2020). The bad enough mother. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 21(1), 58–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/15240657.2020.1721141

Film Series: The Lost Daughter by Liora Diamond, LPC
2026-08-29 14:00 - 18:00 | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
More details coming soon!

Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC
Discussion begins at 4:30pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom

SAVE THE DATE - THE I IN YOU PART 2 by Jeffry Luria, Phd
2026-09-19 11:00 - 13:00 | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
More details coming soon

Psychoanalysis, Authoritarianism and the Arts - Symposium with Tulane University
2026-10-17 09:30 - 13:00 | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Tentative discussion topic. More details coming soon.
