in other stories
Rather than be made anxious by a fact, we prefer to be comforted by a fiction. Why is this? Wilfred Bion, one of the 20th century’s greatest psychoanalysts, asked in his 1962 work, Learning from Experience, a pertinent question: ‘When the mother loves her infant, what is she doing it with?’ In this blog post,... Continue Reading →
This is a paper written and published at the New Associations as a response to the Conference 'Between mind and body: Ordinary Differences' on 2016 that I co-organised with my colleagues from the 'Culture and Ethnicity Task Group' and which was supported by the British Psychoanalytic Council. The paper runs through some concepts that might be... Continue Reading →
How does therapy change your brain? This article explains...
When we feel excluded, what do we do? This paper explores the unconscious dynamics which permeate societies and how they push some to the edge while keeping others cosy in the middle. How are we shaped by the culture in which we grow? How do social, political, historical and economic pressures interweave in the individual,... Continue Reading →
In Freud’s time, the patients coming to him with problems were frequently hysterics, so his theories tended towards solving the mental phenomena he encountered on his couch. Thus repression, the Oedipus complex, infantile sexuality etc. were all attempts to figure out the meanings behind the symptoms his patients presented with. Freud’s ideas were a crucial... Continue Reading →
The Weinstein scandals have found me reading the book 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman. The book explores a world via an intriguing twist - the idea that women are the physically powerful gender. By turning the tables, she turns the world upside down. In ‘Power’, women have discovered an innate power, "their skein", which provides... Continue Reading →
This is a paper about shame. What it is, why it feels so horrible and how humans came to feel it, explored through the story of Shakespeare's King Lear.
A conversation between Annie and Marina thinking why we are drawn to people alike us and how differences affect our internal world.
How do we live a good life? A meaningful life? How does too much fantasizing get in the way?
I have been fascinated by the HBO TV series "Westworld' by Nolan and Joy. If you don't know about it, the series is about a Wild West-themed amusement park populated by 'androids' - also called 'Hosts' who live in the park. It becomes quickly apparent that the park functions as an escape from the conformities... Continue Reading →
