Bipolar Depressive Disorder: A Psychoanalyst’s Report

Presenter: Mark Goldenthal, PhD
Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:00 AM – 12 Noon
(registration 9:30)

The diagnosis of Bipolar Depressive Disorder refers to a type of recurring depressive disorder that has only recently been investigated by biologically oriented psychiatrists. It is currently thought to encompass symptoms from and be co-morbid with many different disorders including anaclitic and introjective depressions; atypical depression; various anxiety disorders including panic disorder, OCD, and Post-traumatic stress disorder; hypomania and mania; several types of personality disorders; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; and substance abuse disorders. It is no surprise that research indicates a high rate of misdiagnosis of bipolar depression by mental health professionals for whom the concept is often new and not well understood.

In addition to questions of diagnosis, utilizing the term “bipolar depression” admits a reciprocal interaction between a biological disease, bipolar disorder, and the psychological and social context of the person who has the disease. In this reciprocal interaction, the biological disease contributes to social and psychological stress by disrupting various psychological processes such as mood, impulse control, thought process, self-esteem, motivation, and capacity for insight, attention, and cognitive executive functioning. The relational context and psychological stressors can also greatly impact the biological processes of the disease, for example, by precipitating its onset and recurrence.

This presentation will review current psychiatric research findings about bipolar depressive disorder relevant to psychoanalytic psychotherapy. It will also locate psychoanalytic theory, as it may be useful in understanding these patients; and then explore issues that emerge in relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy with bipolar patients.

Mark Goldenthal, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and in Union, New Jersey. He is a Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute and on the faculty at both the Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey (IPPNJ) and the Contemporary Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies (CCAPS). He is currently on the Allied Professional Staff at Lenox Hill Hospital. He has a certificate in psychoanalysis from the William Alanson White Institute in New York and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in the Clinical Psychology – Psychotherapy Program. His area of specialization is the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of adults with affective spectrum disorders co-morbid with severe personality disorders

Location:
Hartman Lounge, The Mansion, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ
Cost:
CCAPS Candidates: $25 Pre-registration/$30 At the door
Faculty & Others: $35 Pre-registration/$40 At the door
FDU Students with ID: Free

For further information, please call (973) 443-8561
To pre-register send check payable to CCAPS to:
CCAPS, Dept. of Psychology, M-AB2-01, FDU, Madison, NJ 07940

2 CEU’s for Social Workers will be offered.

Supervision and its Vicissitudes

Presenter: John Duryee, PhD
Saturday, May 3, 2008
10:00 am – 12 Noon
(registration at 9:30)
Lenfell Hall, Fairleigh Dickinson University
2 CEU’s

Cost:
$40 FDU and Montclair State Students: Free with ID
Analytic candidates: $25 Pre-registration/$30 at the door
Faculty and others: $35 Pre-registration/$40 at the door

Pre-registrations must be received at least one week before the scheduled date.
Registrations at the door are accepted.
For further information, please call (973) 443-8561
To pre-register send check payable to CCAPS, Dept. of Psychology, M-AB2-01, FDU, Madison, NJ 07940