The ISMD is glad to share Dr. Susan Meinl event, that deeply explore the impacts fantasy and imagination can have on our life experiences, understanding, healing, and individuation.
Admission: $90.00
When: Two Wednesdays, Apr 9 – Apr 16, 6 – 8 pm CT
Presenter: Dr. Susan Meindl
Susan Meindl is a licensed Psychologist in private practice in Montreal. She is a graduate of the McGill Counselling Psychology program and the Argyle Institute Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychotherapy program. She is a member of the Ordre des Psychologues du Quebec, the Ordre of Counsellors of Québec, an OPQ certified supervisor of psychotherapy, and a qualified member of the Quebec, Canadian and International Psychoanalytic Associations.
How to partecipate: This program is being offered ONLINE only. Recordings will be distributed to registered participants only, and will not be available for individual purchase.
Introduction
We all daydream. We find it a pleasant and normal activity, but can it sometimes go too far?
For certain gifted or vulnerable persons, daydreaming can become a secret and irresistible addiction which destroys their lives. It is being called Maladaptive Daydreaming.
These two lectures will use historical material, modern research and published case studies to look at fantasy life in all its many healthy and unhealthy variations. Both lectures are oriented towards a general Jungian audience but will be of interest to therapists who wish to be better able to identify and work with “fantasy prone” clients.
Each lecture will include time for questions and discussion.
Evening 1
Maladaptive Daydreaming: When Fantasy Escapes the Analyst’s Office
In the first evening I will do a quick review of how Jung’s early studies of fantasy narratives and his own personal “Red Book” experiences convinced him of the value and importance of fantasy life, influenced his theories and lead to the development of the technique of Active Imagination which is still practiced by Jungians today. Then we will look at some of the more exotic “close cousins” of Active Imagination such as lucid dreaming, “spiritual emergency”, “reality shifting” paracosm creation, “tulpamancy” and others, to see how they relate to older forms of experiencing in the visionary tradition.
A disordered style of fantasy which researchers are calling “Maladaptive Daydreaming” will be highlighted and we will look at how fantasy life is related to neurodivergences such as ADHD/ADD, Giftedness and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Evening 2
A Secret Life: Inside and Outside the Fantasy
In the second evening we will turn to ideas about the useful and pathological aspects of fantasy using classic material from the Freudians. Both Sigmund and Anna Freud wrote about fantasy and their interest in daydreaming was particularly poignant because the subject turns out to have hit very close to home. Anna Freud herself would be considered a maladaptive daydreamer by today’s clinical standards.
Anna Freud’s experience, disguised as a case study, is an “insider” description of her own maladaptive daydreaming which was first interpreted by Freud, and then reflected upon by Anna Freud herself in a paper she wrote early in her own career. Psychoanalyst Rachel Blass shows how fantasy narratives can be connected to real life relationships by outlining how Anna’s fantasy was shaped by her evolving personal and professional father-daughter relationship.
I will also offer another interesting account of the evolving and finally successful treatment of a case of maladaptive daydreaming which comes from psychoanalyst Robert Lindner whose essay details his real-life experience with his patient “Kirk Allen.” Kirk was a scientist involved in a secret government project who was sent for discrete treatment by his superiors who were concerned about his mental state. Little did they know however, that Kirk Allen was living a double life. A research scientist by day and an “interplanetary adventurer” by night… and unfortunately for his work…not only by night. Dr Lindner describes in detail his patient’s exotic history and his increasing personal fascination with his patient’s story.
What eventually transpired and returned Kirk Allen to life in reality will surprise you!
