VAPS - a local chapter of Division 39 of the American Psychological Association providing a forum for local professionals interested in psychoanalytic ideas, study and practice.

VAPS is pleased to announce that we will have a new website launching within the month!

Registration for the events below will be available on the new website, which will be at the same web address as always (vapsvt.org).  

(An email about these events went out recently, but we believe it may have ended up ensnared in many a spam filter and also incorrectly indicated that registration is available on the current website.) 

Upcoming Events

2025 VAPS Short Course Series: 2-HR CONFERENCES BY ZOOM!

Holding and Containing: On the Specificity of Winnicott’s Object Relations Theory

Jan Abram, Ph.D.

Friday, September 26th, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Following on from my previous work on Winnicott since 1996 this paper examines the meaning of holding and containing in relation to the specificity of Winnicott’s object relations theory. The holding concept refers to the psychic receptivity of the ‘environment mother’ while containing, I suggest here, is an aspect of holding, that signifies the mother’s ability to psychically survive as the ‘object mother’ during the infant’s very early moments.

While British Object Relations theories most often refer to the psychoanalytic authors influenced by Melanie Klein, in this essay I offer an outline of Winnicott’s contribution to the evolution of the specificity of his object relations theory in the context of his major theoretical achievements: the environment-individual set-up; transitional phenomena; and the use of an object (Abram 2008).

My aim is to demonstrate how holding and containing as a formulation – especially in the capacity for concern (1963) - grew out of Freud’s observations on the essential role of the mother for the infant’s evolving psyche. While the father’s role is equally important for the infant’s psyche, it is the mother who will facilitate their position in relation to her infant.

Advancing Winnicott’s very late work on ‘the use of an object’ I propose that psychic survival-of the-object constitutes the crucial psychic event for health at the heart of the parent-infant relationship from the start of life. The evolving intrapsychic subjective surviving object will potentially grow stronger in the context of the analyzing situation in which the analyst is able to sustain psychic survival-of-the-object (Abram 2022).

Thoughts and Findings about Playing and Reality

Lesley Caldwell

Saturday, October 18, 2025 9:00-11:00 a.m.

In this paper, Dr. Caldwell will discuss Winnicott’s growing emphasis on the importance of play and playing over decades as a psychoanalyst of children and adults which culminates in his last book Playing and Reality (1971). Dr. Caldwell concentrates on his later work in elaborating the links between free association and an ease in the relation with the other and with the self. Dr. Caldwell argues that this process registers a significant shift in his approach to the aims of psychoanalysts and to the analytic process. Although Playing and Reality. is among the most popular of psychoanalytic texts the presentation will discuss its considerable challenges and offers us new perspectives on Winnicott’s work.

The Sexual Drive for Power- The Passion for Ever More

Dominique Scarfone, M.D.

Saturday, November 22, 2025. 10:00-12:00 a.m.

What do the sexual and other drives, psychic trauma, addictive behaviour and creativity have in common? What do the human drives and narcissism have to do with the scientific, technical and industrial revolutions and with our present day environmental, societal and political crises? These are among the questions to be addressed during this presentation.

SCHOLARSHIP SLOTS

VAPS has received a local chapters small grant award from Section IV: Local Chapters, a section of Division 39 of the APA that will fund up to twenty scholarship slots for mental health professionals working in high risk settings. Please contact Georgia DeGangi, Ph.D. at gdegangi@gmail.com for an application to be considered for one of these awards.

Also coming right up:

2025 Annual Scientific Meeting with Dr. Paul Williams

 Pre-conference Zoom Webinar: Is psychoanalytic treatment of psychosis possible?

 On Friday, November 7, 2025 1:30 – 5:00 p.m. via Zoom!

Freud concluded that psychoanalytic treatment of psychosis cannot bear fruit due to the nature and scale of the disturbance. Notwithstanding his pessimism, there has been an outpouring of writings and conceptualizations by psychoanalysts on psychosis over the past century. There now exists an extensive literature on its likely origins, its course according to its types, responses to treatment and, in particular, forms of clinical intervention that give rise to some hope that it may be possible to engage with the psychotic person in a way that facilitates collaborative engagement with the non-psychotic mental functioning of the patient. Through this engagement with the non-psychotic mental functioning of the psychotic patient it may become possible to examine and understand the aims and operations of psychotic thought which undermine change and growth. The purpose of this meeting is to consider these ways of working and their consequences for clinical practice.

Annual Scientific Meeting in person: Soul Murder Revisited - in person!

On Saturday, November 8, 2025 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT

Soul murder is a term describing a confluence of several types of experience, predominantly isolation, deprivation, neglect and abuse, which are imposed on the subject over an extended period, damaging ego functioning, obliterating defenses and impairing the capacity for healthy identifications in the subject. The motivation of Soul Murder is the destruction of the core sense of self, or more plainly put, the integrity and uniqueness of the individual that is captured in the term ‘soul’. The identification of Soul Murder originated in literature long before it appeared in psychoanalysis. The first case of Soul Murder recorded in psychoanalysis was Freud’s study of Judge Daniel Schreber which was not an analytic treatment, but rather an attempt to describe and understand the internal world of the tortured and murdered soul as depicted in Schreber’s diaries. It is likely that Ferenczi had more direct experience of the treatment of Soul Murder than any other analyst of the early period. His innovative work could be seen as an attempt to delve beyond available psychoanalytic knowledge in search of an understanding of the relational catastrophe afflicting his most traumatized and alienated patients. In the 1980’s and ‘90’s, Leonard Shengold elaborated and delineated the clinical problem of Soul Murder in great depth, advancing our grasp of what can occur in childhood to annihilate the striving for relationship. This conference will define and explore the meaning, distinction and evidence of Soul Murder in our clinical work and demonstrate examples of successes and failures of treatment through case studies.  

Join us!

We invite you to join the VAPS community and participate in the study and application of psychoanalytic theory and practice by becoming a member! Membership benefits include:

• Discounted rates or free access to educational events with continuing education credits
• Access to the VAPS listserv as a forum for asking questions and sharing information
• Receipt of the VAPS quarterly newsletter containing articles by members and information about books, upcoming events, and trainings

If you would like to become more involved in the VAPS community, members are also welcome to join various committees including the Education, Applied Psychoanalysis, Membership, Research, Bylaws, Website, and Executive committees. For more information about the focus of each, click on the Committees tab above.

Whether you are interested in being notified of upcoming events, attending events at a discounted rate, or are looking to become part of a warm and collaborative professional community, we encourage you to become a member!