psychoanalysis
A note on psychoanalysis, for potential patients (or anyone curious):
Is there really a “cure” in speaking? Jacques Lacan assembled the word parlêtre, the speaking-being, that is the human who speaks. We suffer from being speaking-beings, and oddly enough speaking can be a way out of this suffering—or at least a passage towards a better form of it.
Given the circumstance of being a human in the world we live in, it makes sense that one would be anxious and depressed. It seems that a certain degree of suffering is inevitable. Even so, I believe (perhaps optimistically) that there still exists pathways for one to live a rich, textured life, filled with the capacity for love, creativity, and meaningful work.
Often our solutions for living just lead to more suffering. Whether it’s by drinking too much or by rigid prohibitions, by compulsive eating or punitive restrictions on food—phobias, addictions, preoccupations, inhibitions, apathy, indecision, isolation, self-criticism—there are myriad ways to suffer.
But... there is also something special that happens when one addresses their suffering to another through speech. This process of psychoanalysis can uncover the unconscious mechanisms behind one's singular way of suffering, opening a way to move beyond it. Through this ritual of speech addressed to another, there unfolds a series of petit revelations, little surprises, mutative moments... with the cumulative effect of transformation.
A note about me:
I received my Masters in Social Work from Hunter College and subsequently completed four years of post-graduate psychoanalytic training at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP). I’ve since shifted my focus towards a particularly Lacanian orientation. I participate regularly in the meetings of the Lacanian Compass (an associated group of the New Lacanian School) and the activities of Das Unbehagen. I’m on the editorial board of The Candidate Journal and I was recently published in Rendering Unconscious, Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry.
My main influences include the seminars of Jacques Lacan, the writings of Freud, art in all of its forms, my patients, and of course my own psychoanalyst.
If you’re curious about the possibility of coming to me for psychoanalysis (or therapy), I can be reached at 917-499-8879 or via the contact button below. My office in Chelsea, NYC is open for in-person sessions. Remote treatment also remains an option.
Thank you for visiting,
Julie Fotheringham, LCSW