NOBPC | New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center

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.
