Can the psychoanalytic session be thought of as a shared dream? Starting from this evocative question, this event offers a reflection on clinical work through the lens of field theory, exploring the interplay between interpretation and conversation. All material brought into the session – nighttime dreams as well as everyday narratives – can be understood as an expression of an unconscious co-created by analyst and patient.
While adopting a dreamlike internal stance, the analyst remains attuned to the patient's realism, narrative, and personal history. The analytic conversation thus unfolds as a mutual search for recognition, in which symbolic meaning emerges through emotional attunement rather than abstract metapsychology. The session becomes a theater of transformation, where storytelling and witnessing foster the development of subjectivity and relational intimacy.
General Registration:
- Members | $165
- Non-Members | $215
- *Early Career Professionals | $95
Inclusive Pricing Registration:
**Inclusive Pricing Offered
*Early Career Professionals: Three years of practice or less (including candidates). Inclusive Pricing will also be offered for this event
**Inclusive Pricing: To ensure this experience is accessible to all, we’re offering inclusive pricing—a pay-what-you-can option designed to remove financial barriers and welcome broader participation. While we have standard registration fees based on membership levels, we understand that cost can be a challenge for some. Inclusive pricing allows individuals to contribute what they’re able, ensuring that no one is excluded from this enriching opportunity. This model reflects our commitment to equity, inclusion, and community, and we hope it encourages everyone to join us for this exceptional event
General Registration | Inclusive Pricing
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the model of the session as a shared dream within field theory, recognizing clinical material – both dreams and everyday narratives – as an expression of an unconscious co-created by the analytic dyad.
- Develop the ability to integrate the analyst's dreamlike internal stance with attentiveness to the patient's realism and history, fostering the emergence of symbolic meaning through emotional attunement in the clinical conversation.
About the Speaker: Giuseppe Civitarese M.D. Ph.D.
Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and training and supervising analyst (SPI, APsaA, IPA). He lives in Pavia, Italy. Among his last books are: Sublime Subjects: Aesthetic Experience and Intersubjectivity in Psychoanalysis, 2018; Vitality and Play in Psychoanalysis (with A. Ferro), 2022; On Arrogance: A Psychoanalytic Essay, London 2023; Psychoanalytic Field Theory: A Contemporary Introduction, 2022; The Hour of Birth: Psychoanalysis of the Sublime and Contemporary Art, 2025; The Limits of Interpretation: Essays on Bion and Field Theory, 2025; The Horse’s Eye: Animality, Humanity, and the Unconscious in Renaissance Art, 2026, in press. In 2022, he received the Sigourney Award.
Alliance Disclaimer:
This program, when participated in its entirety, is available for 2.5 continuing education credits. Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This presentation also meets the requirements of WAC 246-809-620 (definition of recognized categories of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists and social workers).
This program, when participated in its entirety, is available for 2.5 continuing education credits. Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. Division 39 is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to education@nwaps.org. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants will be informed of the utility/validity of the content/approach discussed (including the basis for the statements about validity/utility), as well as the limitations of the approach and most common (and severe) risks, if any, associated with the program's content.
