Beating an Undead Horse:
Toward a Conceptualization of Nuisance in the Analytic Process
Presented by Steven Cooper, Ph.D.
with Discussant Matthew Shaw, Ph.D.
January 6, 2026
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm Eastern Time
For APM Members to Register:
LOG IN to the Members website/Events.
Registration for this event closes at Noon, Jan. 6, 2026.
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue, Room 21
New York, NY 10029
and via Zoom
1.5 credit hours
Description:
Winnicott brilliantly grasped the child’s nuisance-making as a bid for assurance of the parent’s reliability. Some adult patients continue their patterns of nuisance-making in ways that can be annoying to others, including the analyst. Dr. Cooper explores the work that the analyst must do on behalf of his patient to transform countertransference annoyance into meaningful interpretive responsiveness. This work requires the analyst to metabolize the affects expressed that are challenging for the patient to contain. Together, patient and analyst live for periods of time in a nuisance-making climate, one that is demanding for both patient and analyst.
Presenter:
Steven H. Cooper, PhD, is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and the Columbia Univ. Psychoanalytic Center. He holds Clinical Professorships at Columbia P&S and at New York Univ. Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis. He has recently been the Visiting Erik Erikson Senior Scholar at the Austen Riggs Center. Dr Cooper is the author or editor of eight books in psychoanalysis. His most recent books: Playing and Becoming in Psychoanalysis, (2023) and Psychoanalysis in Play: Expanding Psychoanalytic Concepts from a Play Perspective, (2025); and Winnicott’s Letter to Bion: Playing and Dreaming and Beyond, co-edited with Christopher Lovett (2025).
Discussant:
Matthew Shaw, PhD, is an adult, child and adolescent psychoanalyst, teaches at the Yale Univ. School of Medicine and is a training and supervising analyst at the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis in New Haven, CT, where he chairs the child and adolescent training program. He has published broadly, including a book on Hans Loewald. He gave the plenary at the Association for Child Psychoanalysis and the Beata Rank Lecture at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute.
Learning Objectives:
-
Analyze the concept of nuisance-making behavior in adult analytic patients in terms of Winnicottian theory.
-
Apply a two-fold holding stance in session: holding the patient’s hope embedded in nuisance-making, and concurrently holding the analyst’s limit and counter-transference disturbance.
Registration is REQUIRED and CLOSES at Noon Eastern Time on January 6, 2026.
This presentation will be recorded for the use of APM members. Please be advised that by participating in this event, your image and voice may be captured by the recording. By your participation, you consent to all the inclusion of your image and voice in the recording.
Viewing of the recording will NOT qualify for Continuing Education credits.
|
Continuing Medical Education
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the Dallas Psychoanalytic Center. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of _1.5_ AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
We offer Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for this activity. We understand professionals from other disciplines may also wish to participate. Please note that it is the responsibility of each participant to verify with their respective licensing or certification boards whether CME credits will be accepted as Continuing Education (CE) credits for their specific credentialing needs.
We recommend checking directly with your board to ensure compliance with any continuing education requirements applicable to your profession.
|